


Nexus Rising

by Mendeia



Series: The Silken Cord [3]
Category: Gundam Wing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Battle Nexus Mashup, Brotherhood, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Debates on the Meaning of Honor, Empathic/Telepathic Bond, Gen, Humor, M/M, Post-Canon, Psychic Abilities, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-08-17 04:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 78,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8130536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mendeia/pseuds/Mendeia
Summary: Sequel to "The Silken Cord" for Gundam; set post-"Turtles Forever" movie for the 2003 TMNT. The time of the Battle Nexus Championship has come and the turtles are excited to return. In another universe, one former Gundam has received an invitation to participate in a multi-verse tournament and cannot resist. When two teams meet, dimensions will collide and both worlds will soon be at risk. Updated weekly.





	1. The Path that Leads to Nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'll admit it. This is the crossover nobody ever asked for.
> 
> The truth is that I wrote this in January-February of 2015 when I was in the midst of a 5-year depressive bipolar downswing. To keep myself going and afloat, I turned to two of my most trusted and beloved fandoms – TMNT and Gundam Wing. I'd long wondered about what happens when you put two such groups together; both fighting teams with badass teamwork, but entirely different mentalities when it comes to honor versus killing their opponents. And this was the time.
> 
> My beta says that I shouldn't be bothered about the crazy premise of this story given stuff that is canonical to TMNT anyway. Ultimately, whether or not this story is stupid, I wrote it and it helped me, and I enjoyed myself a ton doing it. So you get this story anyway.
> 
> If you don't know Gundam Wing, you can probably limp along with this story, though a read-through Wikipedia might be worth doing. If you don't know TMNT, this will be harder, but you can also probably limp along with some Wikipedia help. Or, you know, poke me with a review/comment and I can give you a brief backstory.
> 
> In terms of my other works, this is very much a sequel to The Silken Cord, though the Quests will not be appearing in it – however, the psychic connection that happened in that story is very, very relevant to this one. This is not specifically connected to any of my existing TMNT works, however; for timing, the TMNT events take place in the aftermath of the Turtles Forever movie.
> 
> In general, warnings for canon-appropriate violence but that's about it.
> 
> I hope at least someone finds something worthwhile here. But either way, this story got me through a very dark time and for that I am extremely grateful.
> 
> Enjoy!

It should have been a normal day.

For once, all five of the former Gundam pilots had been in the Preventers office on L1 at the same time. Even Quatre had taken a day to catch up with his Preventers paperwork, which was the only reason Duo bothered to show up. Wufei couldn't threaten Duo into completing his own no matter how he tried, but Quatre had a gift it – and a propensity for bribing him with pastries.

They'd spent most of the day working on their own tasks. Wufei had a separate office from the one Heero and Duo shared, and he had made room at a side-table for Quatre while Trowa 'kept the peace' next door. That was what people thought, anyway. No one outside of the five of them could have understood that Heero and Duo sharing an office was neither a punishment nor a cruel joke nor a desperate move by Une to try to keep her most unpredictable elements in balance. Only the Gundams knew better.

The empathic link that bound them had grown in the year since it had manifested from Quatre's gift. Quatre himself was still the center of it, but the others were beginning to experience echoes of one another as well, echoes that didn't necessarily pass through Quatre at all anymore. And Quatre had mastered the art of leaving a low, humming connection open between all five, a running status and awareness that lived in the background of all their minds. So when outsiders cringed at the thought of Heero and Duo sharing an office – and for whom they felt sorrier depended on the day – the Gundams understood. They were already beating to a single heart-beat, breathing to a single rhythm. After that, loud arguments about file cabinets and garbage-can basketball were just games to keep them entertained.

It should have been a normal, even quieter-than-usual day.

When the low tremor of concern and confusion began to permeate the awareness of Heero, Duo, and Trowa, none of them worried. Wufei was often concerned, and if he had a case worthy of the emotion, he might well be confused by the actions of whatever evil had arisen in the course of his investigation. And Quatre had been in the room with him all day and hadn't sent anything notable across, so no one gave it much thought at first.

Until they retreated from the office to the house on L1.

"What's that?"

Duo's question was light, playful almost, but only to those who didn't know how to read him. His gaze was focused and icy, and his hands were behind his back where he could reach his braid and the equipment he kept concealed within it.

"It came this afternoon," Wufei answered, meeting Duo's expression steadily. "Preventers Tech cleared it."

"But you're not sure." Trowa stood leaning against the wall, nonchalance in his pose and not at all in his eyes.

"Quatre and I thought everyone should take a look at it in a secure location. It feels wrong somehow." Wufei shrugged. "It was addressed to me, and it seems to have come from my home colony, but…" He did not finish. They all knew there was no longer a colony from which to send anything, just a field of debris and painful memories.

A moment later, Quatre and Heero entered the room. The sitting room which was normally bright and cheerful felt strange to the empath, smoky and shady, and he repressed a shiver. But none of the others missed it.

Heero looked at the package and moved towards it. "You brought it here," he said, "so it doesn't respond to external pressure or motion."

"It isn't a bomb." Wufei shook his head. "Tech would have noticed _that_ at least. It's something else."

"It's something, all right," Quatre said. He looked up to Wufei and met his eyes. "May I?"

"Yes."

" _Quatre._ " The warning was growled in unison by the other three in the room. Trowa finished their thought, "Be careful."

Quatre smiled reassuringly. He moved to the table, aware of the others crowding closer, both to see and to intervene, not that any of them knew precisely what to expect. The box was a thick metal, the clasp already undone by the Preventers inspection. Quatre pushed back the lid and peered inside.

Another box, this one an even thicker metal, filled the space. The feeling of oddness in the room doubled.

Gingerly, Quatre lifted out the heavy box. It was plain, like one of many thousands of shipping containers used in space for two generations, but there was a keypad lock on it that was no more than ten years old. Scratched above the lock were a few Chinese characters.

"Bushido home?" Heero translated, tipping his head to the side. "Can that be right?"

"It's the combination," Wufei answered. "There are seven virtues of Bushido, and the temple at which I studied the virtues was on L5-142864. So the combination is 75142864."

He keyed it in over Quatre's shoulder. There was a soft beep and the box opened.

The scent of wood, paper, and chalk spilled into the air. It was an old, heady scent, and Wufei found it taking him back to his days as a child in the temple of L5, learning the ways of a warrior at the feet of his master. His great-grandfather had been his first, best teacher. It was from that man he had learned the use of the dao, the skills of hand-to-hand combat, and the ways of honor.

Quatre lifted yet another box out and set it on the table. This was a wooden box, beautifully inlaid with jade in the form of a dragon. Balanced on top was a scroll. Without a word, Quatre handed it to Wufei and politely turned his eyes away to let his friend read privately.

Wufei appreciated the kindness, but he opened the scroll and began to read aloud anyway. He had come this far – there was no point in keeping a secret now from the other four in the room.

> " _Chang Wufei,_
> 
> _I send this to you, to be delivered on the summer solstice after your 20_ _th_ _birthday. Of all my pupils, only you may be worthy of this legacy of the Long Clan. It is my hope that my son will survive me to explain its meaning to you in full, for there is much to explain. But to guard against fate, I leave you this knowledge._
> 
> _Yours is a world of science, but once our family knew the secrets of what you would call ancient magic. Technology may someday replicate the powers of the items in this box, but never will science understand them fully. You know that ours is one world of many possibilities. This box contains the key to open a doorway to another such possibility._
> 
> _Every three years by our count, warriors gather from many different worlds in a grand tournament, a battle of skill against skill for only the most worthy. The Long Clan has sent more than one warrior to this nexus to compete, and we have comported ourselves with honor and skill on each occasion. I myself have traveled to this other world to seek a worthy opponent._
> 
> _The solstice falls but two days before the beginning of this tournament, my great-grandson. So the year in which you receive this box you are eligible under the traditions of our Clan to make the journey if you so wish. You will meet creatures of worlds and appearances you cannot imagine, and you will learn for yourself how powerful you are._
> 
> _You, Chang Wufei, are the only true heir and inheritor to my teachings of all our Clan. To you alone I give this choice. If you seek to prove your strength, or if you seek to learn the meaning of strength, I bid you to attempt the journey. Our name is known, and if you speak of Long Ming you will find the students and heirs of my own allies._
> 
> _Serve our Clan with honor and strength, Chang Wufei. Health and good fortune be with you."_

There was a very long silence.

"Um," Duo finally managed. "Um…okay…"

"Wufei?" Heero looked over.

"I don't…" He was shaking his head. "I don't know what…"

"Open the box, Wufei," Trowa said softly.

Almost numbly, Wufei carefully lifted the lid from the wooden box. Within it was a piece of white chalk, an empty bowl made of bone, and two etchings that appeared to be made of gold, everything at least several centuries old. Wufei lifted the first one, on which was written an ancient meditation chant. The other bore a strange symbol.

"How does it work?" Quatre asked.

"If…if it works at all," Wufei shook himself back to sense, "one would inscribe these symbols on a wall using the chalk. Then a bowl of water would be placed before it and the chant would be recited." He scowled. " _Magic_. Impossible."

"Is it?" Heero asked. He shot a smirking glance to Quatre, and all at once a feeling of warmth and connectedness and security filled every heart in the room in response to the obvious request.

"Winner." Wufei frowned warningly in spite of the feeling.

"Even science cannot explain my empathy," Quatre replied. "Nor can it explain what happens in meditation when we join our minds."

"Do not dismiss what you do not know only because you do not wish to know," Heero added.

"Are you asking me to do this? This superstitious, meaningless ritual?" Wufei crossed his arms and glared.

"Hey, what's the harm?" Duo asked. "If it's a dud, it's a dud. But if not, it could be worth seeing."

"Besides." Trowa stepped up close and looked over the items. "It's from your family. That should mean something to you, Wufei, even if it's also nonsense."

Trowa met Wufei's suddenly stricken look with a calm one of his own. It wasn't often that they spoke of it, but there was no denying that family, or, rather, the lack thereof, mattered to all five ex-Gundam pilots. Three had been raised as orphans, sheltered sometimes by caring individuals, but ultimately alone. Wufei had lost every member of his family, his entire Clan, during the Eve wars. Only Quatre had any living blood-kin, but he was still without father or mother.

Wufei turned back to the items. His fingers ran over the familiar calligraphy of his great-grandfather's writing. He remembered the temple once more, and all the secrets of ancient wisdom that had been lost with its destruction. He remembered being a child and never wanting to return to his "real" home on L5 because nowhere felt as real to him as that serene place.

"All right."

Wufei took up the items and moved through the sitting room to the door that opened to the small garden. In terms of one of Quatre's houses, the L1 place was much less ostentatious than the Winner family home on L4, but it still afforded a private portion of land hidden from the outside world by high walls and taller trees. Wufei dipped the bowl into the little pond on his way to the back wall.

Wufei set the bowl down and took the chalk in one hand. Then he called over his shoulder, "Well? Come on."

The other four had remained inside, and at the distance might not have heard his words. But Quatre was listening to Wufei's emotions, and he heard the invitation for what it was. Part of Wufei's heart was sorrowful, repeating a sacred practice that reminded him so much of the family he had lost, and that part would be sadder still when – _if_ – it proved not to work. But part of Wufei's heart also knew that his family now was with the once-Gundam pilots, and this was a burden he wanted to share.

So Quatre nodded to the others and they joined him.

Wufei drew the shapes carefully before settling before the image on the soft grass. He did not glance back at the other four as he folded his hands and began the chant.

And then the water began to glow.

When the water leaped out of the bowl, crawled up the wall, and formed into a shimmering doorway, all five soldiers were more than a little surprised. Battle-hardened reflexes had them all jumping backwards and, in the case of Heero and Duo, drawing weapons instinctively.

"Um. Uh, this…well…huh," Quatre managed, in utter contradiction to his usually quick mind.

"That…" Trowa smirked, "was unexpected."

" _Zengzufu-laoshi_ ," Wufei breathed. Then he turned to the others with sharp decisiveness. "I must go. It is my duty and honor to fulfill my family's wish and become a part of this tradition."

"Man, we already know that." Duo shrugged, returning his gun to its holster. "We kinda figured it out after it actually worked. We get it. You don't have to convince us. We just need to know if you want us to come with you."

"Remember to alert Une that you will be absent from Preventers for some time," Heero added. "She will not be pleased if any of us disappear again without warning her."

"Agreed," Wufei nodded at Heero. But he looked back at Duo and hesitated. "I don't…"

"It's all right," Quatre said, and he put a hand on Wufei's shoulder. "We understand. We'll see you off though, all right?"

"Yes, of course. I…I will begin to prepare at once. The letter said the tournament begins in two days, but I want to arrive early. I just…I need some things." Wufei tried to pull himself together with a visible effort.

"Wufei." Heero's voice was cold and sharp. That, and the steel beneath it, drew the last of the shock away into icy focus.

Wufei looked across to him.

"There is no way for us to secure this location," Heero said. What he didn't say – his worry, his deep mistrust of the situation – rang loudly through their connection.

"And no way to ensure you can return," Trowa added quietly.

"My great-grandfather obviously returned," Wufei argued. But before anyone could object, he raised a hand. "I know that means nothing. What we are considering…it is almost unfathomable." His dark eyes closed and when they opened, they echoed his certainty. "But I will go. I must."

The others nodded. They understood. With his resolve rebounding in their hearts, how could they not?

"Make a list of everything you could ever want to bring," Quatre said. "Whatever you don't have in your own supplies I can provide. Will tomorrow morning be soon enough?"

"Winner, there is no reason for you to – "

"There is every reason," Quatre cut him off firmly. " _Every_ reason, Wufei."

"And while you guys pack," Duo put in, "we'll start running scenarios. Between the three of us, we'll try to come up with everything we can imagine and then some so you're ready for anything."

"With _your_ imagination, I have no doubt we will be successful," Trowa told him with a wry smile.

"I will also attempt to track down any other record of this tournament," Heero said. "The more information you have going in, the better your chances of accomplishing your mission."

"My mission?"

They didn't answer him in words. But Quatre's heart gathered their feelings and opened them to him, emotions that were clearer than any words at all. _To come back to us_.

"Even if we can't go with you," Quatre said, "let us do this much for you. Please."

Their connection warmed and brightened, and Wufei knew he could not deny them this. Could not keep them from their own chance to protect him even from another dimension. As he would do for any of them.

"Very well."

-==OOO==-

Hamato Splinter looked around the lair appreciatively. It was a true testament to the strength and endurance and boundless optimism of his sons – no matter how many homes were destroyed or from how many lairs they were driven by enemies, his sons never failed to find a new space and remake it into their own. Within six months of the strange universe-hopping adventure wherein they had befriended two alternate sets of ninja turtles from different worlds, the pump-station lair that had been demolished was almost forgotten.

This time, Splinter believed his family had outdone themselves. While their first lair had been a small, disused portion of the original Manhattan sewers, their second had been a relic of an ancient people who had since retreated deep into the earth, and the third had been a spacious pump station under Central Park, the latest home had incorporated the best features of all three. Using some combination of research and gadgetry, Donatello had located another of the subterranean "watchtowers" like that which had been their second lair.

This one, however, was deeper still under the myriad layers of subway and sewer that defined the New York City underground – deep enough that even the most adventurous or most desperate human seekers rarely tread. It was handy to one of the older sewer runoffs, in an area that would never be considered for future subway expansions due to historic buildings on the surface, and yet it was still within easy walking distance of their friends. In fact, the newest lair was actually closer to both the Jones-O'Neil apartment and Leatherhead's own lair. Its only failing was that it lacked immediate river access.

But the advantages of this new lair were much more than mere geography. As one of the subterranean "watchtowers," it contained a small elevator to the surface – not as large as the previous which could even transport vehicles, but large enough for four turtles and their allies to share for one ride. Now knowing the chamber's origins meant Donatello had found ways to work with the ancient technology inherent in it, reviving some of its previous security measures and innate defenses. He had also infused the very walls with protective materials so the lair could withstand a far more robust explosion than what had destroyed the previous two.

Master Splinter did not understand all that his brightest son had done, but he knew enough to know that Donatello had tripled the surveillance and monitoring equipment out more than a mile in every direction from the lair, ensuring that anyone approaching would be caught on one of any number of alarm systems and backup alarm systems and backup-backup alarm systems.

While Donatello had toiled on the lair's security and technical specifications, his brothers had managed the interior. Together – and with a modicum of peace between them for once – they had chosen rooms off the main, atrium-shaped space for bedrooms, which they then filled with what items could be salvaged from their previous home. Master Splinter knew it was no accident that they had given the room closest to Donatello's workshop to that brother, nor that they had designated the prettily-tiled room for himself. In fact, it seemed that they had prioritized the space first for Donatello's workshop and lab, then for the dojo, then for their father's studies, and only after that for their own bedrooms and communal entertainment areas.

But there was room enough for all. The atrium was more vertical than horizontal, with a parallel though smaller room attached to it that had become the dojo with a much-improved high acrobatics course above the matted floors. Between the two spire-shaped areas was the room given to their sensei. Off the main atrium were the large room for Donatello's workspace, a sizable bathroom, and the elevator. The kitchen and living areas were part of the communal round space on the main floor. One level up housed the four turtles' bedrooms and some storage in the two remaining rooms. The third floor, designated the "attic" by Michelangelo in spite of the fact that it wasn't attic-like in any way, was left open for now.

It had taken six months, but the new lair was as homey and filled with life as its three predecessors had been. The kitchen nook was as well-ordered as any kitchen shared by four near-adults and their father; the entertainment area across from it was strewn with discarded couches and cushions and a television that Splinter believed his son had designed and built from scratch. The dojo was beautifully appointed with a full weapons rack, the dedicated virtues of Bushido on long screens, and two different elaborate rope-and-platform courses, one above the other, suspended high enough to provide clearance for all the work normally done on the mats. The bedrooms had been furnished per the owner's preferences and even the walls were beginning to show posters and pictures again; Splinter's own room even contained a small pool of water and a tile mural depicting a tranquil seaside scene.

And everywhere were the touches of the family who lived here – Leonardo's sturdy candlesticks for additional practice were placed to one side of the entertainment area where he was near enough to be with his brothers even when he was the only one training, and Raphael had hung a punching bag nearby under an overhang for the same reason. Michelangelo had scavenged a ten-foot tower covered in carpet for Klunk, which he set right beside the kitchen where he could chatter happily with his beloved cat. And while Donatello's lab might be behind closed doors, his computer array sat filling the broad, arching alcove that led to it, so that he was within easy discussion range of his brothers and they could watch the security monitors themselves from almost anywhere in that portion of the lair.

Splinter padded on silent feet to gaze at the screens hung on one side, all showing footage of the many, many junctions and areas and possible entrances Donatello had covered in his unceasing focus on security. The screens flicked from one angle to another, green lines and dots highlighting motion or heat signatures or changes in pressure.

The center screen suddenly lit up with a display of Raphael and Leonardo making their way through the tunnels, arms loaded with grocery bags. Splinter noted that the pair seemed to be talking, but from what he could read of their body-language, their bickering was remaining at friendly levels for now. He watched as the pair made each checkpoint, signaling their status and their identities with code words, voice analysis, and even the presence of their shell-cell phones.

He turned to gaze at where Michelangelo was curled up in his new favorite spot, a comic book in his hands and Klunk purring on his feet. Beside him, Donatello was chattering mostly to himself as he tinkered with some aspect of the entertainment system that had not yet met his exacting standards. Then a low tone sounded and both glanced up to the security monitors to confirm that it was just their brothers entering the elevator. Within moments, Raphael and Leonardo emerged in mid-discussion of what appeared to be the relative merits of different brands of salsa. Michelangelo bellowed something from his seat and Donatello gave him a smack without even looking up while the other two turtles began putting away the groceries.

_Such good boys_ , Splinter thought fondly. _Such brave, honorable ninja. Such excellent sons_.

He almost hated to break the friendly tableau, but his news should not wait.

"Before you begin dinner," he spoke, raising his voice just enough to be heard. At once, all four sons went silent and turned to listen.

"Yes, Master Splinter?" Leonardo asked, a bottle of mustard still in one hand.

"There is something I would like to tell you. Please join me, my sons." And he moved to the very center of the room where the meditation mats were still set up from the day's training. Splinter took his place before them and waited for his sons to follow.

Leonardo went immediately to his place across from Splinter's right hand as befit the eldest son and heir to the clan. Beside him, Donatello settled into his spot as second-eldest and his brother's acting second-in-command, his technical expertise and unmatched intelligence responsible for the plans that kept the family safe or got them out of trouble. To his other side, Raphael dropped to the mat, tugging on Michelangelo's bandana as he kneeled beside him.

It was something of a draw between who was truly older between Donatello and Raphael, and in the end both did their part to serve the family in entirely different ways. But besides the natural gravitation the turtles had shown to putting their trust in Donatello's mind, Splinter had often needed to separate Raphael from Leonardo as children to stem their ongoing conflict, and so this placement had become tradition. They did not always sit in this order before him, but Splinter was pleased that they had all wordlessly interpreted his tone and were behaving accordingly.

"In all the excitement of our recent adventures," he began when they were still, "it is possible you have lost track of the date."

"Uh…happy birthday, Master Splinter?" Michelangelo offered hesitantly.

He shook his head with a twitch of a smile. "No, not that date."

Donatello's eyes widened in realization, but it was Leonardo who spoke after a moment of thought. "It's…it's been three years, hasn't it?"

"Yes, my son. And the time of the Battle Nexus Tournament is once again upon us."

Before Michelangelo could even begin to brag, Raphael reached over and pinched his beak shut. "Not a word, doofus, or you're gonna regret it."

Splinter serenely ignored them and faced all four. "Although past champions may compete, it is considered in bad form to attempt to extend one's legacy beyond a single victory. I always attend, of course, and many years I have entered my name in the rolls, but should I advance beyond the third round it would be honorable for me to remove myself from the competition." His eyes fell on Michelangelo. "I would expect you to do the same, my son."

"Yeah, that's cool sensei." He smiled. "Then you and me can cheer from the sidelines!"

"Does that mean you're going to let us participate again?" Donatello wanted to know.

"Yes." Splinter nodded. "You all proved yourselves in the last competition, and I know you all wish to attain some personal honor as well." _And possibly win the crown away from your youngest brother so there is at last some balance in the family over it_.

"Sounds good to me." Raphael cracked his knuckles with an eager look. "I'd _love_ the chance to get back in the ring against a _real_ opponent."

Michelangelo squawked in offense and things would have devolved into a brawl if not for Leonardo's throat clearing.

"How soon do we leave?" the eldest asked.

"Tomorrow at dawn," Splinter said. "As you know, you need bring little more than your weapons and your skills, so I hope you will spend this time preparing yourselves mentally for the challenge ahead."

"I'll call April and let her know we'll be gone, and I'll ask Leatherhead to stop by and look out for the lair and Klunk," Donatello offered.

"Since _some_ of us don't need to compete, I'll pack some sandwiches for the rest of you," Michelangelo said with an innocent grin.

"I want to see you all back here two hours after dinner," Leonardo said, turning to his brothers. "Master Splinter's right. We should make sure to prepare mentally for this. _All_ of us. Even you, Mikey."

Splinter noted that even Raphael did not bristle under the order. In fact, he seemed to be taking things quite thoughtfully. But that might also have been because Raphael was busy flicking Michelangelo in the head for whining.

"Go, my sons. I will be along for dinner in a few minutes." Splinter dismissed them with a fond smile.

And as they went, he closed his eyes and said a quiet prayer. _May we honor your legacy, Master Yoshi. And should a Hamato again emerge victorious, may such triumph bind this family ever tighter together_.

Opening his eyes to watch his sons tussle and laugh and call insults and jokes to one another as all four began preparing the meal together, Splinter's heart felt certain that at least part of his prayer had already been answered.


	2. A Place to Cast a Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for missing last week! I had a horrific head-cold and was trapped in the body of an obnoxiously unpleasant snotball for about 6 days. Now I'm finally recovered. To atone, here is last week's chapter and this week's a little early!
> 
> Enjoy!

As the four turtles gathered around their sensei, who had already marked the place on the wall of the lair he intended to use as the portal's entrance, Donatello stepped to his side and cleared his throat.

"Yes, my son?"

"I'm not saying you're wrong, Master Splinter," Don began, earning a snort from Raph who knew that tone of voice actually meant _I'm totally saying you're wrong_ , "but by my calculations, won't we be a day early to the tournament?"

Splinter smiled. "Very astute, Donatello. However, there are some formalities that need to be observed. As a returning warrior, I had no need of them when you followed me, but your, ahem, unexpected appearance previously meant they were overlooked. This year, we shall do things correctly."

"What sorts of formalities are we talking about?" Raph wanted to know.

"Some kind of registration?" Leo suggested.

"Indeed. Among other things," Splinter smiled secretly.

"Anybody else get the feeling we're about to pay for that little breach of etiquette last year?" Mikey asked.

His brothers glanced at him and nodded. Yes, that's exactly what they were afraid of.

-==OOO==-

The glowing light of the water was only barely dimmer than the artificial sunlight just breaking over the garden wall. Wufei hefted the pack that had been crammed with supplies by his four fellow ex-Gundams.

"Not too heavy for you, is it Woo Woo?" Duo asked with an all-too-bright smile.

"Maxwell!" Wufei would have charged him but the pack weighed him down.

"Hey, I'm not gonna see you for a while, so I gotta get all my shots in now!" Duo practically sang.

"How much coffee have you had?" Trowa poked him.

"Oh, enough," Duo answered with a manic smile that had been known to send hardened criminals fleeing for their lives.

"Allah preserve us." Quatre fought against a smile.

"Zero Five." Heero stepped up, his body braced as though for a fight. "State your mission parameters."

Wufei drew himself into a rigid line. "Roger that, Zero One. My mission parameters are to attend this otherworldly tournament, gain what intelligence I can, and return safely within one week."

"Or else we're coming after you." Duo's eyes flashed with the promise, all humor vanished.

"Acknowledged, Zero Two."

"Then we won't say goodbye," Trowa said. He inclined his head. "Good hunting, Zero Five."

Quatre took a step forward and put one hand on Wufei's chest, drawing out the warmth between them. "We will be here with you, no matter whether you find your answers or your victory."

Wufei smiled a little. "I will fight well that my opponents might know that honor I carry."

Quatre stepped back to the others. Wufei looked into each of their faces for a long, tense moment. Then he turned back to the glowing, impossible portal.

_Never have I had such strong reason to return to any place, or, rather, to anyone_ , he thought to himself as he took the first step. _May it be enough to guide me home_.

Wufei paused even as he was midway through the doorway, a part of his mind intrigued that he could see some indistinct forms beyond that could have been trees or buildings in a landscape, but hazy as though he were peering through a fog that glowed.

But the rest of him was suddenly _acutely_ , _horribly_ aware of a sharp scream, and a pounding that went with it. That another step forward would cause blinding, irrepressible pain.

"Quatre!"

Wufei rocked back on his heels and whirled in place. Quatre was leaning heavily on Trowa, both hands pressed against his chest and his chin tucked in so his shoulders practically curled around his head. Trowa was holding him tightly, half supporting his weight, half embracing him, but his own face was ashen. Duo was standing much closer to Quatre than he had been a moment ago, and his expression reflected confusion and distress, lostness that would have fit better on a child clinging to a mother. But Heero was in motion, and Wufei had only an instant to take in the change in the others before Heero's hand closed on his shirt and jerked him away from the doorway.

He looked into Heero's face and saw anger and pain, and determination above all.

"You can't." He pulled Wufei another two steps back into the garden.

"I'm sorry," Quatre said, his voice shaking. He looked up and tried to smile. "I just didn't expect…"

"Show me," Wufei said, understanding at once. Quatre nodded and suddenly the sense of loss, of painful, acute, _wrong_ emptiness washed through him. He staggered, but Heero's grip on his shirt kept him from stumbling. Wufei was deeply relieved when the feeling disappeared back behind Quatre's control.

"I knew your abilities had expanded," Wufei said around a dry throat, "but I didn't consider…"

"I can always feel you," Quatre affirmed. "No matter where you are, no matter where I am. All of you." He turned to the others. "I didn't realize how hard it would be to lose that, or how much of it would be passed through me to the rest of you. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Trowa squeezed him in his arms.

"With some concentration I can probably shield you all more, block it out…"

"No. Don't, Cat." They turned to Duo, who had regained much of his usual attitude, but his eyes were still a little too wide. "That's the wrong answer and you know it. Time for Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" Wufei asked, raising his eyebrows. Of all their preparations, this was the first he'd heard of such a thing.

"We made one last contingency for this, to ensure you could attend the tournament. You need to do this, for yourself and for your family's legacy," Trowa answered. "We understand that."

"But we're connected now," Heero picked up the explanation. "You may have to fight your battles alone, but you will not go to this place alone."

"We'll come with you, Wufei." Duo smiled very slightly. "Not to mess with you. Just to be there. All of us. Spare us all a bunch of pain and then we'll be there to back you up if you need it."

"But _only_ if you agree," Quatre protested. "We want you to have the choice."

"You knew this would happen, Winner?"

"I suspected the separation might cause a backlash. I just wasn't prepared for the full strength of the feeling." He raised his chin and met Wufei's eyes. "If you want to go alone, we won't stop you. I will block it out, and _we will be fine_." He glared at the others and dared them to defy him. None did. "Or we can come with you. It's your choice, Wufei, and we will respect it."

"But you know what we would prefer." That was Heero in all his overprotective, paranoid glory. The fact that he was paranoid and overprotective of both Quatre, who would suffer for Wufei's leaving, as well as Wufei himself in a totally unknown situation without any recourse or backup was not lost on the others. Not just because it was obvious – additionally, Quatre was projecting more than usual, keeping them all aware that they were not alone, almost an apology for that instant when it had not been quite true.

Wufei closed his eyes. He considered the Chang legacy, and how his great-grandfather would have frowned at sharing it with "outsiders." He considered his own strength and his desire to find his way. He considered the danger inherent in the unknown beyond the gate and the risk of exposing the others to it. He considered the pain in his heart in that instant on the threshold, not what Quatre had sent him, but his own heart's reaction to knowing the empath could no longer hear him, that he had gone so far even Quatre couldn't find him.

"A clan's legacy is in its children," he said at last. Then he opened his eyes and fixed them on the other four. "Through Quatre and, more importantly, through the choices we have made, _we_ are brothers now, more than were we brothers of blood or battle alone. Mine might be the Chang legacy, but it will live on in each of us."

Wufei gave in to the impulse he'd been suppressing since the first instant of disconnect and stepped all the way forward to where he could rest a hand on Quatre's shoulder. The physical contact erased all the lingering feelings of loss and emptiness.

"Come with me, then. I welcome you all."

-==OOO==-

The turtles blinked in the sudden sunlight of the Nexus world.

The Nexus village was resplendent with banners and streamers, a cacophony of voices calling out as beings from untold different worlds and dimensions met and mingled. The scents of dozens of different foods – and species – were layered the air. There seemed to be few actual warriors around, but the villagers themselves were as varied as the multi-dimensional guests who would soon arrive.

"When you say the incantation correctly and with the correct tones," Splinter eyed his eldest son, who had the grace to wince, "you do not land in the forest outside. Instead, you arrive here in the plaza."

A fountain of water with a purplish tint stood beside the largest placard. Donatello squinted at it a moment before his face cleared.

"It…it translates itself!" He grinned. "Just like how the Battle Nexus is breathable for us as well as Triceratons who breathe sulfur, and how we always understood everyone."

"Not _everyone._ " Mikey grimaced as he remembered his first encounter with Kluh.

"There are some arts to keeping one's language from the Nexus." Splinter nodded. "Not all wish to have their words translated."

"Well, are we gonna stand here yapping about signs or are we gonna follow the directions?" Raph asked, already annoyed. Or maybe just normally annoyed.

The banner Donatello had noted read: _Registration for All Participants Here_

Together, the Hamato family made their way across the plaza towards the broad table beside the banner. No few eyes turned in their direction, and, as the attention grew, Mikey started to strut.

"That's right, people! I'm here! Michelangelo, the greatest Battle Nexus – oomph!" He found Raph's hand tight across his mouth. " _Hhhmmmmmnnnuuufff!_ "

"Knock it off, Mikey." Leo rolled his eyes. "We're here to compete, not brag."

Raph released Mikey with a shove, and Mikey glared at them both. "Speak for yourself, bro."

At the table, Gyoji floated. "Ah, Master Splinter. I welcome the return of yourself and your sons to our tournament."

"Thank you, Gyoji," Splinter bowed politely. "This time, we would all like to register according to the rules."

"Excellent. You are among the first to arrive. If you please, then, sign in on the papers before you."

Five scrolls appeared out of the air and unrolled on the table.

Raph groaned. "Paperwork? Really?"

"It makes sense, Raph," Donnie said as he read over the contents. "They need to know stuff about us like what it's safe for us to eat or how to treat our injuries."

"You'd think they'd seen enough of us in the healing room last time." Leo frowned.

"Hey! How come yours is all done, sensei?" Mikey leaned over his father's shoulder to see one scroll filled with his father's familiar scrawl.

"Because I, unlike you, have done this before. I merely need confirm my status, as do most returning warriors. The rest of you…have some work to do." He smiled wryly.

Above each of the turtles' scrolls, three more appeared. Gyoji floated over. "Please make sure you complete all forms with as much detail as possible."

The four groaned in unison. Master Splinter watched with amusement as his sons eventually resigned themselves and began to fill in the scrolls.

"Hey! No cheating!"

"Aw, come on, Donatello," Leo practically whined. "What do I know about safe dosages of some of this stuff?"

"If you paid more attention during my first aid lessons, you'd know a lot more!" the purple-banded turtle shot back.

Gyoji floated to Splinter's side. "Master Splinter, while your sons complete their work, the Daimyo has invited you to join him for tea. I will take you there, if you wish."

"You're…you're not gonna leave us with all this… _homework_ , are you?" Mikey looked up, aghast.

Splinter smiled. "I believe it 'builds character,' as they say. Do your best, my sons. I shall see you in a few hours." Even as Gyoji whisked him away, he could hear his youngest son's cry of " _HOURS_?" echoing behind him.

In fact, it only took them about 45 minutes all told, including at least 10 minutes of Donatello simply telling his brothers what to write down. When they finished, the scrolls vanished.

"What now?" Raph looked around.

"Well." Donatello glanced at a nearby sign. "It looks like all participants are invited to dinner at sundown in the ring as sort of an opening ceremonies kind of thing. I estimate we have about ten hours between now and then to look around."

"No wonder nobody's here," Raph grumbled. "They're all gonna be fashionably late, and we're here rudely early!"

"Leonardo-san! Leonardo-san!"

The four turtles turned at the sound of the voice as a boy rushed up to them. Leo blinked for a moment before realization struck. "Ue-sama?"

"The Daimyo's son?" Raph's eye-ridges went up. "Kid's barely any older than the last time we saw him a couple of years ago."

"Time moves differently in the Nexus," Donatello pointed out. "He probably ages slower than we do."

The young lord of the Nexus came to a rushed halt just shy of throwing himself into Leo's arms. He bowed properly, but couldn't keep from grinning broadly. "Leonardo-san! You have come back!"

The turtles bowed in return. Leo smiled at the kid and then offered his arms for a hug. "Of course, Ue-sama. We are honored to be here."

The boy happily hugged Leonardo, then turned to the others. "Will you all play with me this time?"

"You bet we will, little dude." Mikey ruffled the boy's hair. "And you can keep me company while my non-Champion brothers compete!"

Ue beamed.

"Is Miyamoto Usagi here as well?" Donatello asked.

The young lord shook his head. "Not yet. But father says he always comes, so I was waiting for him, too."

Suddenly Raph's eyes narrowed. "You know, last time we were here, that creep tried to use the kid against the Daimyo." He turned his gaze to the boy. "How come you don't got any guards or nothing watching out for you?"

Ue looked at his feet. "Um…"

"Ue-sama." Leo dropped to one knee before him. "Tell me the truth. Did you run away?"

"No!" he cried. Then, with a sigh, "But I kind of…hid? From my guards?"

"We better get him back to his father before anybody starts to worry," Donnie said. "I could really do without all the stuff that happened three years ago happening all over again."

"You mean 'cause you spent the whole tournament on the sidelines?" Raph said wryly.

"Hey, I was protecting Leo and the Daimyo with Usagi!" Donnie objected. "From ninjas! Lots of them!"

"You still got knocked out of the fight first, dude." Mikey got in his face with a grin. "Unlike me!"

"Ue-sama." Leo regarded the boy. "Let's get you home before my brothers really get going."

Suddenly a shadow fell over the square.

"Leo, look!" Raph shouted.

A dark cloud seemed to blot out the warm sunlight for a moment. When it passed, it left in its wake dozens of the darkly-clad ninja assassins the brothers remembered from their battle with Drako and the Daimyo's son as he had been three years prior.

"What are these guys doing here?" Donnie asked, pulling his bo.

"Uh, maybe they want to enter the tournament?" Mikey suggested even as he set his nunchaku swinging.

"Anybody notice that we can't go anywhere without getting into a fight in the first ten minutes?" Raph fingered his sais.

"Technically, we've been here an hour," Donnie told him.

"Protect the Daimyo's son!" Leo ordered as he drew his swords and moved into a defensive stance.

"Yeah, sure!" Mikey called back as he closed into formation, the four turtles shell-to-shell with the boy between them. "I could use a little warm-up anyway!"

As the first wave of ninja advanced, Leo glanced over his shoulder. "Ue-sama, stay with Donatello. He'll keep you safe."

Don met his eldest brother's eyes nodded. Yes, he understood Leo's logic. Leo had long-since surpassed all of them as the best fighter and he would need to take point. Raph would get caught up in the battle and might take his eye off the kid at a critical moment. And both Mikey and his fighting style were totally unpredictable. Donatello fought more defensively than his brothers anyway and he had a long weapon that could keep the ninja from getting too close to his charge.

"H-hai, Leonardo-san," Ue stammered.

"It's going to be okay," Don told him, spinning his bo with one hand while he drew the child against his side with the other. "I'll look out for you."

And the ninja attacked.

-==OOO==-

The Gundams walked into a warzone.

Wufei had gone through the gateway first as the officially invited party, but all five had passed through the doorway as close together as possible to spare Quatre the agony of separation. At the sound of fighting, Wufei dropped his bag only a few steps clear of the portal and drew his dao.

Duo, right behind him, took in the scene in one swift glance. "I know it's a battle tournament, but this doesn't look like any tournament I've ever seen before."

A low moan signified that Quatre was coming through the portal, held on either side by Trowa and Heero. Duo and Wufei forced themselves to watch outwardly, trusting that the other two would help Quatre; from the bubbling chaos that was leaking to them around his best control, they knew he was struggling to adjust to the change just as he did when they moved from the Earth to the colonies, but on a much more vast scale.

The instant they were clear of the gateway, Heero abruptly pushed Quatre into Trowa's arms and shoved them both down behind Wufei's bag. "Defensive positions!" he ordered sharply.

"Hey, maybe it's supposed to be like this," Duo said, pulling his current favorite gun and chambering a round. He let his own bag fall with Wufei's, and Heero and Trowa pushed all five backpacks together into a makeshift shield for Quatre.

Wufei's eyes fell on four turtle-like creatures battling against heavy odds. In their midst, a child was clearly petrified, clinging to one of the turtles with hands that were shaking while tears rolled down his face.

"If this is the meaning of this tournament, then they have lost the way of honor!" Wufei snarled. "That is a _child_ out there!"

A wash of emotion from Quatre drew their attention back to where he huddled on the ground, clutching at his chest. "Anger...and hate. They...they want to kill the boy." He coughed around his pain. Quatre looked up and his eyes were haunted. "The four...turtles? They're protecting him."

"Sounds good enough to me," Duo said darkly, and if not for Quatre's attempts to hold back his empathy the others knew they would have felt the cold shiver of Shinigami's rage washing through them all.

"Don't kill," came Trowa's voice from where he was tucking Quatre's head against his chest. "Unless you have to. We don't know all the rules here."

"Mission accepted," Heero said.

"Zero Three, protect Zero Four," Wufei ordered. "We'll teach these dishonorable things a lesson about the code of a true warrior!"

And he charged, Heero and Duo on his heels.

-==OOO==-

"Where the _shell_ are the Daimyo's guards?" Raph grunted as he kicked one of the ninja into two more. "Shouldn't they be here by now?"

"Focus, Raph!" Leo shouted as he dodged a blow from a spear. "We can't afford to be distracted."

"I'm not distracted! Nothing distracts me! I'm still the Battle Nexus – yikes!" Mikey cried out as he mis-timed a strike and caught the flat of a foot in the stomach, sending him into a nearby wall.

"Leo, there's too many of them!" Don swung the bo high above his head, cognizant always of the boy in his shadow. "We can't fight them forever!"

"We will if we have to!" Leo called back. "We're protecting Ue-sama _no matter what_!"

Suddenly a ninja ducked under Donatello's guard and swooped the young lord from his place. Three more ninja immediately piled on Don, preventing him from stopping him.

"Help!" Ue shouted. "Leonardo-san!"

"Hang in there, kiddo. We gotcha!"

Leonardo looked up in time to see three young human men charge into the fight. One, wielding a heavy sword slashed at the nearest black-clad ninja with practiced grace, bringing his opponent to the ground. A second with dark brown hair ducked under a well-aimed punch and slammed an elbow into the ninja's head hard enough for the sound of skull cracking to be audible. The third, with hair braided all the way down his back, darted to face off against the ninja carrying Ue.

"There's no quicker way to get Shinigami's blood going than to hurt kids," he menaced darkly. "See you in hell."

Leonardo was too far away to tell what he did next, but there was a gunshot and the ninja fell with a wet gurgle. Ue dropped into the young man's waiting arms, crying.

"Ue-sama!" Leo fought to get closer to the young lord. He found himself face-to-face with the most intimidating blue-eyed stare he'd ever encountered.

"We will protect the child. Continue your fight." The stranger's words were clipped, and he never took his eyes from the battle even as Leo knew he was being sized up.

"Who are you?" he couldn't help but ask. "Why are you helping us?"

It was the one wielding a sword who answered. "We are the Gundams. And we fight to defend the peace."

"Sounds good to me," Raph grunted, putting his fist through another face.

"And I think we could use all the help we can get," Donatello hedged, dropping a few more ninja with a broad sweep and moving back towards Leo. In moments, Raph and Mikey had closed their formation again, this time including the two strangers in their pattern; they were only slightly surprised when the boys adjusted to the formation just as naturally.

"I'm not stealing your kid!" called the third, the one with the braid. "I'm putting him the safest place I know, okay?" And he spun back to where five heavy bags had been pushed into a small nest. Leo spotted two other figures taking cover there.

"Zero Three! Status!" shouted the one with the sword.

"Zero Four is almost recovered," came the answer from the bags.

The braided young man settled Ue down with a quick smile. "You'll be safe here with my friends, okay? Keep your head down." And then he raced back into the fight.

Leo signaled his brothers and they adjusted into a loose protective ring around the backpacks again including their unexpected allies in the line. For several long moments, wave after wave of black-clad ninja poured at them.

Suddenly Leo sensed a presence behind him. Before he could turn, a body slammed into him, bringing him to the ground with a shout of, "Sniper! Everybody down!"

Leo could see the tiny dart only inches from his beak that should have ended up in his shoulder if not for the unexpected help. He gulped, remembering all too well how his last visit to the tournament had almost ended.

The person who had saved him was still yelling. "I'll handle him. Guard Zero Three and the boy!" And then he was up and gone, his bright blond hair shining in the sunlight.

"A ninja sniper?" The one with the sword growled from where he was taking cover behind his nearest opponent. "Have you no honor at all, you worthless dogs?"

"These clowns ain't never known the meaning of honor," Raph told him. "They're just hired thugs."

Leonardo watched his rescuer sprint to the shelter of a deserted storefront and take up a position, a gun clearly outlined against him. "You'll never hit him from there!" he yelled. "He's too fast!"

"Don't underestimate Zero Four," came a low, calm voice from behind him.

Leo glanced up during a break in the fighting to see the blond close his eyes. Then, all in one smooth motion, he rose from behind the cover, extended the gun, and fired once – all in less than a second.

"Sniper's down, and we've got more inbound," he said, returning to the circle around the backpacks. "I don't know if they're friends or not."

"Heh, that's all right," said the braided one as he put two shots into the shoulder of his opponent. "These are the kinds of odds I like!"

"Don't listen to him!" The one with the sword scowled. "He's a menace."

"Right back atcha, Zero Five!"

"Look!" Don called, pointing with his bo. "The cavalry has arrived!"

And into the square flowed what looked like the Daimyo's entire armed force, surrounding the ninja and immediately turning the tide of the fight.

"In the nick of time, even!" Mikey cheered.

"That's a first," Raph grumbled.

Leo was looking at their allies – the young men had fallen all the way back to their defensive position and appeared to be having a rapid debate. Leo caught the words, "Not again." As the Daimyo's guards charged into the melee, Leo broke off from his place to join his unexpected allies. He saw how the one with bangs that overshadowed his face had Ue pulled tight in his arms, a gun still out in one hand.

"Don't leave yet," Leo said suddenly as he realized what they must be considering. "Please."

The blond one looked up at him with blue-green eyes that seemed too big and too full somehow.

"We're not here to fight in a war," he said in a low voice.

"If you hadn't helped us, there could have been a war," Leo answered. "And Ue-sama might have been taken or worse." Then he added, "My brothers and I owe you a debt."

"Sure as shell we do!" Mikey called from a yard away. "I thought we were dead meat for a minute there!"

The Daimyo's guards were closing on their position and the other turtles had stepped nearer to the group, keeping their guard up.

The young man with the sword looked straight into Leo's eyes with a gaze of ice and steel. "Is this tournament meant to be honorable? And this attack is an act of terrorism against it?"

"You could say that, yes."

All five visibly twitched at that and nodded. The blond spoke up. "Then we'll stay for now. Clearly there is a battle worth fighting here outside of the tournament. And we won't let the forces of terror win."

"Hey, little lion," said the young man holding Ue in a velvet-soft tone. "It's time to be brave again."

Ue looked up, his face red and wet with tears. "Is...is it over?"

The blond smiled at him warmly and put out a hand to him which Ue-sama took cautiously. "Yes, it is. You're safe, little one."

Ue smiled back and the tension seemed to drain out of him. When he looked up at Leonardo, his face was almost cheerful again. "Leonardo-san?"

"Yes, Ue-sama?"

The young lord carefully climbed out of the lap that had sheltered him and stood. "Thank you for protecting me." He bowed.

"You're welcome, Ue-sama. We're friends, aren't we?" Leo glanced at his unexpected allies as he said, "Friends always protect one another."

" _What is the meaning of this_?" roared a commanding, powerful voice.

"Father!" Ue grinned and jumped out from behind the bags to stand with the turtles as the Daimyo strode through the lines of his guards who had finished felling the last of the black-clad ninja.

"My son." The Daimyo dropped to one knee and drew the boy into his arms. "Are you hurt?"

"No, father. The turtles protected me, and then these fighters joined in and kept me safe."

"It's true, Daimyo," Leonardo said, offering a respectful bow. "We might have been overwhelmed if they had not come along and aided us in our battle."

With Ue tucked tight in one arm, the Daimyo rose to his full and impressive height, looking down at the turtles and the five young men standing with them. "You have done me a great service, then, warriors. Though you are strange to me."

The blond unfolded from the knot of them and rose before putting both hands over his heart and bowing low. "It is our duty to defend those who need it," he said in a voice that rang with strength beyond his years and gentle appearance. "We could not..." He trailed off.

The other four tensed immediately. The one with the long bangs stood up and put a hand on the blond's shoulder. "Quatre?"

Donatello gasped. "The Daimyo's War Staff!"

The War Staff had begun to glow. The Daimyo raised it a little and the light brightened.

And Quatre dropped in a dead faint.


	3. Outside Looking In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the very first things I wrote in this whole story was the end of this chapter. I often do that, get a scene in my head and that becomes the first seed that branches forward and back.
> 
> Also, there's a line from a tabletop role-playing game I was in that I had to throw into this chapter. Because, just like when you let Mikey tell the story of how something went down, we had a friend whose version of reality was...a little strange.
> 
> Enjoy!

By the time Quatre finally opened his eyes, most of the crowd had gone. He could sense only a few strangers nearby, and four familiar hearts.

"T…Trowa?" Quatre rasped, his hand numbly reaching.

"I'm here." Trowa's voice was low and even as he grabbed Quatre's searching hand in his own and squeezed. "It's all right." He brushed his other hand over Quatre's tousled hair. "How do you feel?"

Quatre blinked tiredly. "Like…I just came out of a certain 28-hour mission that included an unplanned space-walk halfway across a colony."

On Quatre's other side, Heero sniffed. "That was Une's fault. It was a poor strategy."

Across the room, Duo chuckled. "Don't worry. I made her pay for it."

Wufei glared at him. "So _you're_ the one who tampered with her computer for that week!"

Duo nodded. "And her coffee pot. Don't forget that."

" _Baka_ ," Heero told him, but there was an underlying amusement.

Quatre began to push himself to sit up, his mind rapidly taking in the scene. They were in a large, airy room with many windows. On the floor were rows of low, springy mats such as the one upon which he was lying. At the door stood two uniformed guards. Trowa and Heero were flanking Quatre's position, and Wufei and Duo had spread out into the room to cover the remaining angles.

And to one side knelt a pair of the strange turtles, both radiating surprise.

"Do you remember what happened?" asked the one with a blue bandana as he quickly collected himself.

Quatre frowned a moment before answering, "After the battle, the one you called the Daimyo appeared. I know I tried to talk to him but…" He put a hand to his head and shivered.

"Zero Four," Heero's voice was insistent. "Status."

The barked order gave Quatre something to hold onto. "Acceptable and mission-ready in under five minutes," he managed after a deep breath. He looked at Trowa questioningly.

"We don't know what caused it," Trowa told him. "Only that you fainted."

"It was when the Daimyo's War Staff started glowing that you seemed to get sick," the purple-banded turtle said. "Given that the War Staff is one of the most powerful magical artifacts in the multiverse, I would guess something about you interacted with its inherent power and resulted in something of an overload."

Quatre blinked at him, then nodded. "That fits with what I felt, anyway."

"We should never have come," Wufei snapped angrily. "I regret it now."

There was a tense silence before Quatre looked up at him. "Do you really?" he asked softly. When Wufei looked away, Quatre said, "We knew there was a risk in coming here. Already we have done something that was important."

"But at what cost?" Heero asked.

Quatre shook his head. "Does it matter?"

"How can you ask us that?" Trowa caught his eyes and held them with his gaze.

Quatre touched the hearts of the other Gundams. He wasn't currently sharing as much of the connection with the others as he fought to get his own empathy back under his control, but he could clearly read their apprehension. They had been frightened for him – very.

"If it makes you feel any better," the purple-banded turtle spoke up, "I actually know where you're coming from. When we competed last time, Leo, my brother here, got hurt in one of the tournament fights by someone trying to take him out on the sly. I spent most of the tournament in here guarding him from those very same ninja from today. I spent lot of hours wondering if we should have come at all, too."

"You fought a battle that made a difference and protected an innocent," the other turtle said. "If nothing else, I am grateful for that."

Heero looked at him with a penetrating stare. "What do you anticipate will be the outcome of the battle?"

The turtle glanced to his brother before answering. "Well, obviously someone wanted to hurt the Daimyo through his son. The Daimyo and his guards will investigate it. And…we'll probably do some poking around of our own as well whenever we're not participating in the tournament."

"We probably shouldn't get any more involved than we already are." The other turtle sighed. "But we will because that's just what we do."

At that, Quatre smiled. "Believe me, we understand that." He looked up to the others. "What do you think?"

"Call it, Heero," Duo said. "We can't leave it to Cattie because he'll forget the whole magic-made-him-pass-out part in his oh-so-elaborate genius tactical whatever."

Heero noted Wufei and Trowa nodding and accepted their decision. Looking back to Quatre, he said, "We stay. We protect the people of this world if we can. But if it is too much for us, or if we are in danger of getting killed, we return home. We can't protect the Earth Sphere if we die here."

"Mission accepted," Trowa murmured. Wufei bowed his head briefly and Duo sketched a slight salute.

Quatre was going to argue that they were too worried about his well-being specifically as compared to the value of the greater good, but the solid conviction resounding through the others convinced him. They were worried about him, true, but they were willing to take the risk for the right reasons. Quatre knew he'd have a fight on his hands if he proved likely to be overloaded again, however.

Instead, he turned to the two turtles. "Please forgive us," he said, offering them a bow. "We haven't exactly been polite to you."

The turtles smiled. "Don't worry," said the blue-banded one. "In your position, we'd be a lot alike."

The pair bowed from where they sat kneeling. "I am Hamato Leonardo, and this is my brother Donatello. You also met Raphael and Michelangelo. They were here for a while, but they went off to keep Ue-sama company with the Daimyo and our sensei."

Duo didn't quite chuckle, but Quatre could feel his wry amusement – he assumed that meant the other two turtles had gotten bored. Duo had a very specific disdain for being bored that was unmistakable.

Quatre smiled. "Thank you for helping to watch over me. I am Quatre Raberba Winner and these are my friends and brothers-in-arms: Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, and Chang Wufei." He hadn't needed to ask if introductions had happened already – his team wouldn't have stated anything but their designations, if that, unless he was willing to give permission for his name; it was habit given his fame in the Earth Sphere. Each Gundam nodded in turn.

"You have participated in this tournament before," Wufei said. "Can you tell us about it?"

Quatre wondered why Wufei hadn't asked for information earlier while he had been unconscious – they could have filled him in privately later. And then he realized that the Gundams would have reacted to his unconsciousness by moving into a state of the highest alert. Not only would they have posted guards and never left him alone, but they would not have willingly spoken with anyone, no matter how well-meaning, to keep from being distracted. No wonder the turtles had been surprised when the Gundams started talking to Quatre.

And if Quatre had needed any proof that something of real significance had happened to him, his failure to realize this within seconds of waking was all he could ever have wanted.

Leonardo was answering Wufei's question as Duo and Wufei pulled in closer to Quatre's mat.

"The Battle Nexus Tournament is held every three years in this between-worlds pocket dimension. Warriors come from different dimensions and different planets to compete in a hand-to-hand contest. There are team preliminaries in the initial elimination round, then single combat through a series of match-ups until a final champion is crowned."

"What are the rules?" Trowa wanted to know.

Donatello spoke up. "Well, first you have to register. I think Gyoji left your paperwork for you." He gestured to a stack of scrolls nearby. "The fights themselves are monitored by the Daimyo and Gyoji. They pull out any fighters who lose before a killing blow is struck. Otherwise, it's largely a free-for-all. Any style of martial arts is allowable."

"What about guns?" Duo asked.

Leonardo shook his head. "I don't think so. I think it's only melee weaponry allowed. Are you all going to enter?"

The Gundams exchanged a glance.

"I was the only one invited," Wufei said at last.

"That's okay." Donatello shrugged. "If you register, you can all participate."

Duo plucked the top scroll from the stack and glanced at it. He winced. "This is _so_ much worse than your reports, Wee-Wee."

Wufei growled low in his chest. " _Wufei_. Chang _Wufei_. And my reports are necessary for Preventers."

"Still, this is worse." Duo held one up. "Anybody want to fight for 'em?"

"No," Heero said, reaching around and taking the scroll from Duo. "You shouldn't be permitted. Who knows what you would write about us?"

"Give them to me," Trowa said. "I can start on them."

"All of them?" Leo asked.

Trowa shrugged. "It'll go faster."

Donatello remembered Mikey's _creative_ responses on his own scrolls and thought maybe that was the way to go after all. But he was particularly interested that the five hadn't exchanged a word about who else would register; they just seemed to assume they all would – without any kind of outward indication at all.

As Trowa pulled a pen from his backpack and began writing in answers, Wufei spoke up. "If we are all entering, the rest of you will need appropriate weaponry."

"I'm covered," Duo said, drawing a stout blade. It was longer and lighter than a Western fighting dagger would have been. "Been working on these babies the last two years. And I can lend Trowa my little stuff."

Trowa nodded. "Thanks."

Duo reached behind him and from within the folds of his braid he drew out a pair of tiny throwing knives. He flipped them to Trowa, who caught them without looking up from the scrolls.

"You should have more than that," Leonardo said. "You might be able to trade with some of the weapon-makers here in the Nexus if you've got anything you can part with. Alternatively, we actually brought some extra weaponry with us this time – not stuff we use normally, but in case we wanted to trade for something or learn a few new moves. You could borrow that."

"We may take you up on that," Quatre said, "but we still probably won't take anything big. We're firearms specialists first and foremost. Although I can hold my own with my khanjar." He gestured for one of the heavy backpacks and Heero pulled it over. Quatre dug into a front pocket and came up with a curved knife in an elaborate, golden sheath.

"May I?" Leonardo asked. Quatre nodded and handed it over.

Leo carefully drew the sheath from the blade, noting that it was made not of steel, but something else entirely, something almost weightless. He stood and took a few steps back, moving the blade through a few basic forms. He spun it across his fingers and came up in a guard. Then, entranced, he drew one of his own swords with his right hand, slipping the khanjar to his left and moving them together through a few forms.

Meanwhile, Donatello was commenting, "That sort of blade is Middle Eastern, I believe. On Earth where we're from, anyway."

"We are also from Earth," Wufei said. "And that is a relic of Quatre's people."

"What is it made of?" Leo asked as he finally returned it to its owner.

"Gundanium," Quatre said with a faint smile. "Left over from my Gundam."

"I thought you said you were Gundams?" Don was confused.

"It's a long story," Duo said.

"By the looks of those scrolls, we're going to be here for a while," Quatre said. "You don't have Gundanium on your Earth? Do you have space colonies?"

"Nope." Don shook his head. "Not yet, anyway."

"That explains it," Wufei said. "Gundanium is only produced in outer space. The process by which it is refined is impossible to replicate on Earth."

"Fascinating." Don leaned forward. "Can you tell me about it? Maybe I can…"

"Donnie! Are you boring them to death over there?" came a new voice.

Mikey was prancing into the room, but he stopped short, Raph on his heels, when he saw three guns pointed at him. Three guns and a sword, he noted belatedly, and not Leo's either.

"We got a problem here, boys?" Raph asked, his hands falling to his sais.

"No, we don't," Quatre said firmly. "Stand down."

The others paused warily for a moment before obeying the order, but Leo noted that Heero never put his gun away – just set it beside him.

"Little jumpy, ain't they?" Raph said with a small smirk. "But then, Mikey's ugly face makes everybody jumpy."

"Hey!"

"Raphael, Michelangelo, please meet our new friends." Leo jumped in before a fight could break out. He introduced all five young men quickly and finished with, "These are our other brothers. They might have what we were talking about earlier."

"Have what now?" Raph asked.

"The pack of spare weapons," Don said. "We're going to lend them a few so they can compete."

Raph grunted and dropped the roll he'd carried slung over his own shoulders. "Yeah, got 'em right here." He unrolled the heavy material, revealing neat rows of several smaller weapons from daggers and knives to shuriken. "Take your pick."

Quatre lifted a dark kunai from the array and passed it to Trowa. "This will be closest to what you're familiar with, and you'll be able to throw it or strike with it," he said. Trowa never even looked up, but he accepted the blade and tucked it into his boot.

"Or climb with it," Donnie added. Trowa smirked but said nothing.

Duo plucked a yoroidoshi from the stash and spun it in his fingers. "A little heavier than my daggers, and shaped a little differently. Interesting. You mind if I give it a go?"

"Not at all." Leo shook his head.

Heero was examining the options closely. He looked up. "You are certain I must go into the tournament armed and without a gun?"

Raph nodded. "Yeah, you don't wanna be fighting empty-handed, and a gun ain't exactly fair."

"Maybe to everybody else!" Mikey grinned. " _We_ outrun guns all the time."

Heero gave a tiny smile. "We'll see." But he lifted a suntetsu and hefted it. "This will do."

The turtles were surprised. At six inches long, it was one of the smaller items in the pack. And while it was heavily made and sharpened at both ends with the traditional ring in the middle through which a wielder could put a few fingers to angle and maneuver it, it wasn't even remotely the most effective weapon remaining.

"Sure you don't want anything, you know, bigger?" Mikey asked.

Quatre smiled and shook his head. Even though he and Heero, like Wufei, had more than a little experience and were fair swordsmen in their own rights and all five of them were capable with mid-length blunt weapons like clubs or poles not unlike Donatello's bo, that was information best kept private for now – just in case.

"So, what did you guys find out?" Leo decided to change the subject.

"Nobody knows who went after the Daimyo's son or why," Raph reported with a scowl. "Those ninjas ain't been seen since that whole thing with Drako three years ago. The Daimyo's pretty ticked off."

"Who is Drako?" Heero asked, looking up sharply. "Is this a vendetta from a former enemy?"

"Probably not, since he's like, all dust now. Literally, you could sneeze him out," Mikey said.

Don cringed but nodded. "Gross, but accurate."

"Tell us what happened three years ago," Wufei said; it sounded like an order because it clearly was one.

Leo tried to consolidate the story as much as possible. "Drako was a dragon from another dimension. He'd won the tournament before and he was a formidable opponent. Our sensei, Master Splinter, defeated him many years ago. When we joined the tournament three years ago, Drako had returned from exile with a plot to take his revenge against Master Splinter by killing the Daimyo and framing him."

"He was working with the Daimyo's son, who also had a grudge against Leo," Raph said.

The Gundams exchanged a quick glance. "The boy you were protecting?" Wufei asked carefully.

"No! You think a little kid like that could start up a war?" Raph scowled.

"Yes." Heero's voice was even and cold. "Yes, we do. It's happened on our world."

"Anyway," Don jumped in, trying not to absorb that information too deeply, "no. Back then, the Daimyo's son was a grown man who had already challenged Leo to a test to see who the ultimate ninja was – and lost. He hadn't forgiven Leo for beating him and he wanted to take his father's position and his War Staff."

"So how did a grown man get to be a little kid again?" Duo wanted to know.

Mikey took up the story. "Uh, so, in the middle of the fight, Drako and the Daimyo's son got sucked into an inter-dimensional portal of like eternal suffering or something and they were there for _ever_. And they kinda merged into one really big, ugly Ultimate Drako who took a timespace U-turn and we met him back in, I dunno, the Dark Ages or something when he stole a scepter of time control from this girl Renet who has an egg-timer on her head which is _so_ last season if you know what I mean."

"Mikey…" Leo said warningly. Michelangelo grinned and charged onward.

"Anyway, a while later, Ultimate Drako popped into our lair totally uninvited and waved his magic wand of time-y-ness and sent us all to these different dimensions like where I got to be a superhero and Raph got in this planetary bike race and Leo went to save a panda from a giant snake with Usagi and Don went somewhere really nasty. But we all ended up here with the guy and Master Splinter and we stole the scepter and got the War Staff and then Lord Baldy-Time showed up and yanked them apart and it was really gross because the Scepter had turned Drako into dust and then he turned the jerk back into a little kid like he was before he went all evil and they all lived happily ever after!"

Heero, his expression stoic, said evenly, "I am very confused."

Don wiped a hand down his face. " _I'm_ confused, and I was _there_!"

The Gundams all turned to Quatre, even Trowa, who set aside the scroll he was finishing. "What do you think?" Trowa asked.

Quatre shook his head. "No. The boy has no feelings of hate or arrogance in his heart. He isn't behind it."

Raph stared at them. "Of course he ain't!"

"Raph, _we_ know that," Leo said. "They don't know him like we do. It's reasonable to eliminate every possibility."

"How do _you_ know, though?" Don asked, looking carefully at Quatre. "How can you tell?"

The Gundams froze but Quatre sailed on, ignoring their suspicion. "I'm an empath. I can sense the emotions of others."

"That's how you knew which side to join when you arrived," Leo said. "You read the field and determined that the dark ninja were up to no good."

"And that you were dedicated to protecting a helpless little boy who was very frightened but completely willing to trust you with his life." Quatre nodded.

"Then that's probably why you passed out, then," Don said. When all five Gundams turned to him with laser intensity, he actually gulped but continued his thought. "We don't know a lot about the War Staff, but we know that it reacts to the heart and will of the one who holds it. It must have been like dumping your empathy in a house of mirrors."

"Maybe." Quatre shrugged noncommittally. "I suppose we'll find out eventually. You said the Daimyo oversees the tournament? So I'll be faced with the Staff again sometime soon."

"Are you really sure we shouldn't go home before that happens?" Duo asked Heero.

Heero shook his head slightly. "We have a mission now. We don't leave enemies behind us, and we don't let evil like this go unpunished. We know how that ends."

"What do you mean?" Raph asked.

"Hey, Trowa? How you doing on that paperwork?" Duo called.

Trowa looked up. "I could use a hand."

"I'll help," Quatre offered, inching to the side to take a scroll.

"Then we will brief them," Wufei said.

Heero sat back to begin. "In our world, in the year After Colony 195, rebel citizens of certain space colonies planned to bring new arsenals to Earth, disguising them as shooting stars, to destroy their enemies. We were those shooting stars. We were the Gundam pilots. And for two years, our lives were nothing but war…"

In the end, between Heero, Duo, and Wufei, they outlined the basic history of the Eve wars, but not much else. They didn't downplay their own actions – in particular, Heero made no secret of his accidental destruction of the pacifists – but they also didn't go into great detail, either. It was one thing to talk about the conflict between the Earth and the colonies and another to minutely describe their specific choices and actions. Any mention of ZERO was omitted entirely as always.

When they finished, Michelangelo was looking at them starry-eyed. "Space battles! In robots! That is so sweet!"

Leo leaned over and slapped him upside the head sharply. "People _died_ , Mikey. It's not a comic book. Show a little respect."

Mikey rubbed his head and mumbled an apology.

"So…there are no aliens anywhere in your world?" Donatello asked.

Wufei shook his head. "None."

"Then how are you dealing with all of this so well?" Donnie gestured to himself and his brothers as well as the room around them. "As far as I can tell, this is completely outside your experience. How are you, you know, so calm? Most people would be freaking out at the, uh, variety of species on display here."

"Maxwell is clearly stranger than all of you," Wufei deadpanned.

"Clearly you've never seen your hair in the morning, Woobie!" Duo snarked back.

Heero looked at Donatello with a very small smile and shrugged. "We are currently fully capable of defending ourselves. We are not presently in the midst of a war in which the lives of billions of people will be decided. Giant mutant turtles and talking dragons and time travel are not more intimidating than facing the extinction of your entire world."

Raph nodded. "He's got a point there."

"Speaking of intimidating," Quatre said with warning. He set down the scroll he had just finished and rose to his feet, the Gundams moving with him. The turtles had barely followed suit when the Daimyo himself entered the healer's building.

"I see the young warrior has recovered," he said.

Quatre took a few steps forward and bowed carefully. "Thank you for your concern for my welfare. I am grateful for your hospitality."

"On the contrary. It is you and your companions to whom I owe the debt of the safety of my son," the Daimyo replied.

Donatello was watching closely, having already noted that the Daimyo had entered without the War Staff in his hands. There was something happening, something in the Daimyo's voice that Donatello had never heard before. He made a mental note of it and started paying even sharper attention.

Wufei moved to stand beside Quatre, the other three ranging behind them. With a bow of his own, Wufei spoke. "I am Chang Wufei of the Long Clan of L5. I am fulfilling my family's wish and have come to enter your tournament, Daimyo. We are honored to have been of service."

Leo glanced at Raph and raised an eye-ridge. Apparently Wufei was more comfortable with the formality of the Daimyo's court than certain youngest turtles they could name.

"And enter it you shall," the Daimyo said. "Gyoji?"

At the sudden appearance of the translucent being who floated in the air, all five Gundams started with surprise, but they recovered their composure admirably.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Make sure you register these five for the tournament."

"As you wish, Daimyo. Their work is already completed."

More than one eye flicked to where they had left the pile of scrolls, all of which had vanished.

"Then it is merely a matter of your chambers while you are here," the Daimyo said. "I can arrange for the finest in the palace if that is your wish."

Leo bowed. "Daimyo, we would be honored to share our own accommodations with them if the space allows. They are unfamiliar with the Nexus and we could help show them around."

Quatre smiled at him. "We would appreciate it. Thank you for your kindness, Leonardo."

"I should expect nothing less from a son of Splinter," the Daimyo said. "Very well. The tournament feast will begin at sundown. I would offer you all a place at the high table if you would be willing to accept it."

A lightning-quick glance passed between the five Gundams and Wufei bowed again. "It would be our honor."

"Then I will see you at the feast and we will talk some more." The Daimyo shifted his gaze to the turtles. "I know you can have no finer escorts than the Hamato clan. You will be well taken care of by them. Until sunset." And he swept from the room.

"Cat?" Duo asked as soon as it was safe to do so.

"I'm fine," Quatre replied.

Trowa narrowed his eyes. Quatre was _mostly_ fine, but the closeness of their specific bond told him that his beloved wasn't quite saying everything.

"Well, let's take you to our rooms so you can get settled," Donatello said.

"And you should meet Master Splinter," Raph added.

"Can you tell us who this Master Splinter is?" Wufei asked.

"He's our father and our teacher and the best ninja warrior ever!" Mikey cheered. "Except for me, of course."

"I got it." Leo waved Raph off before yanking on Mikey's bandana tails sharply.

"Ow!"

"Such a familiar problem," Trowa remarked to Heero, glancing between Wufei and Duo, who both promptly ignored him.

The five Gundams shouldered their packs and fell into line with the turtles to make their way into one of the buildings that was part of the palace complex. As they walked, Duo and Trowa alternated asking careful questions, interrogating their new allies with gentle practice while Quatre read the turtles' hearts as they responded. Quatre also noted that Leonardo and Donatello were both aware of the interrogation, but as the Gundams didn't ask anything sensitive, allowed it to continue.

In the meantime, Raph made note of their formation. Heero was at the front of the Gundams with Wufei at rear-guard. Duo moved back and forth in a pattern known only to himself, but Raph recognized a floating guard when he saw one. Trowa and Quatre remained in the center, but from there they were actually more observant of their surroundings while the others watched for threats.

The hardened wariness he could read in them told him that their stories of war had been drastically understated.

"Honey, I'm home!" Mikey bellowed as he sauntered through the sliding door into the main room of the space they had been offered.

"There's an extra bedroom through there," Raph gestured.

Don considered the space; he hadn't been by yet since he and Leo had stayed with the Gundams after Quatre's collapse. "If one room is too small, we can double-up and give you two. As long as I don't have to share with Raph."

"He snores," Mikey nodded.

"No, one room will be fine," Heero answered stiffly as he set his pack down inside the room and unloaded the others just as swiftly.

Raph nodded to himself. He wouldn't have let his brothers out of his sight either if he was in their position.

"Sensei, we've brought someone to meet you," Donatello called. "They're going to stay if that's all right."

"These are the young men who fought by your side to save the Daimyo's son?" Splinter entered from another small room to one side. "They are of course welcome in our temporary home."

Leonardo stepped to his place at his father's right hand. "These are our new friends, Sensei. They helped us. We helped each other."

"Now don't freak out, guys!" Michelangelo chimed in as he bounced on the balls of his feet. "We know Master Splinter is a big rat and usually people scream and faint and it's really getting old. But you're supposed to be super tough, so maybe you can just get away with the screaming instead..."

"Michelangelo." Heero pinned him with a cold glare of death. "Shut up."

"Yeah, Mikey, stow it." Raph yanked on his bandana tails.

But their antics were forgotten at the movements of the five newcomers.

The Gundams fanned out in what was clearly a deliberate manner. In the front stood Heero. To his right was Quatre, and the turtles would eat their weapons if there wasn't meaning in that placement – Heero would be the quickest to respond to a physical threat so he took the lead spot, while Quatre as the nominal leader and most perceptive was in place to speak but less of a target. On Heero's other side was Duo, the natural counter to Quatre's diplomacy and Heero's stoicism. Beside and slightly behind Quatre was Trowa watching his back and ready to move in silently if needed. Across from him but behind and beside Duo stood Wufei which, if recent events were any indicator, was as much to round out the protection of the group as to put somebody in place to keep Duo in line.

A moment later, the significance of that positioning faded in importance.

Without sharing a glance, not even as much as a twitch, the five warriors slowly sank to their knees in tandem, settling into a deep, proper bow with their hands flat on their thighs and their heads tilted down. Leonardo smiled with warmth; here was the recognition of the respect and honor due to Master Splinter. Count on these guys to have seen what so many others had missed.

"It is an honor to meet you, Splinter- _laoshi_ ," Wufei said, his eyes on the floor before him.

"The honor is mine," Splinter offered them a bow of his own. "I am Hamato Splinter, but there is no need for such formality. Please do rise."

" _Hai_ , sensei." Heero met his eyes with a calm expression as he lifted his head and the others all straightened up, though they remained kneeling. "I am Heero Yuy."

"My name is Quatre Raberba Winner." Quatre smiled softly and, with a tiny flick of a glance for permission, continued, "and this is Trowa Barton and Duo Maxwell."

"And I am Chang Wufei of the Long Clan," Wufei added.

"Chang of the Long Clan," Splinter repeated thoughtfully. "I believe I know your family from many years ago at the tournament, Chang-san."

"Then I am doubly honored." Wufei bowed his head again briefly.

Michelangelo chose that moment to explode. "Okay. _What_ is going on here? Why are you guys all so quiet and bow-y? Not that it's bad, because it's a nice change of pace and all, but what gives?"

Leonardo was about to speak but Quatre beat him to it.

"Two things." He smiled at the turtle but did not move from his position. "First, we know strength and wisdom when we encounter it, and we respect it. And second, you have to remember that you're very lucky."

"I am?"

"He means all of us, doofus." Donatello shook his head. "You guys don't have anybody like Master Splinter back home, do you?"

"Nah. We're all orphans now, and any teachers we ever had are long gone, if we ever had 'em to start with," Duo spoke up with false cheer. "And," he stole a look back at Splinter, "can't speak for the other guys, but I used to dream about learning from somebody like this. Not learning how to kill, but how to be whole, you know?"

"It was different for Wufei and I," Quatre added softly, "but Don's right. We're alone now, too."

The turtles exchanged a glance. If they had been without Master Splinter, if they had been fatherless, family-less, alone in the world with nothing but the capacity and mission to kill as many people as possible, yes, they might well revere Splinter differently.

Splinter smiled. "Then, if you will permit me, for the duration of the tournament, I should like to test your skills myself. Perhaps there is something I may teach you while we share this time together."

Wufei rocked back on his heels in surprise, Duo bounced where he sat, Heero blinked, Quatre grinned bright as the midday sun, and Trowa finally spoke.

"We would love that, Master Splinter."


	4. When One Is Not Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I'm touched and amazed at the number of you who have come to read this story, especially since I sorta figured the only person ever who would be interested in it was me. And maybe my beta. Most of you who have left comments appear to have come by way of The Silken Cord, and so I welcome you particularly. Of all the Gundam stories I've told, this chronology that was born in TSC is probably my favorite. And I don't mind telling you that this story will change things at least as profoundly as TSC did in its way.
> 
> For all those less familiar with TMNT, there is a discussion in this chapter which relates to the episode called "Same as it Never Was" (or SAINW as it is often abbreviated). I highly, HIGHLY suggest you go check it out on YouTube or wherever – the episode is absolutely superb. You don't really need a whole lot of context, not any more than you already have by this point, anyway.
> 
> Oh, also – the history of the Nexus as presented here is entirely a creation of my own brain. If there is a proper canonical one out there, I apologize for not being able to find it!
> 
> Lastly, in case you hadn't caught on, all the chapter/part titles are lines from a specific set of songs. These were the soundtrack while I was writing and are all really good anthems for both TMNT and GW in my opinion. Let me know if you can't figure them out and I'll drop some hints!
> 
> Enjoy!

The feast at sunset was a raucous affair with crowds of beings from every world imaginable and some that were not. The great competition ring was lined with tables spread with food as varied as the species present. There was a certain pattern to it – on one side were the meals for the carnivores who had to eat food that was still alive, and at the far other end was that food that was purely plant and grain with no meat at all, while the middle was populated by the omnivores comfortable with both meat and vegetarian options. As warriors gathered nearest the food most like their own, they called out to old friends or allies or opponents, trading joyous greetings or ardent challenges.

At the high table, the Daimyo oversaw everything from his own place. His tablemates flanked him on either side, Splinter at his left hand and other honored guests and long-time friends to his right. Beside Splinter sat the Hamato clan intermingled with the five unknown human warriors, and the Daimyo noted the sharp awareness those five maintained with admirable constancy. They never relaxed their vigilance, never forgot that danger might wait hidden in the shadows somewhere. When asked, Quatre had answered for them that they respected the Daimyo and the credible threat to his son too much to be lulled into complacency.

In spite of that, the turtles seemed to be doing their best to draw at least some of the Gundams into conversation. Heero gave only short answers when spoken to – his focus clearly on watchfulness – and Trowa was pulling what Duo called his "silent act." Quatre hid a smile and forced his amusement down deep as Raphael and Michelangelo managed to flame the ongoing rivalry between Duo and Wufei, both egging on insults and getting in a few hits of their own in a war of wits with no sides and no prisoners. Frankly, Quatre was glad to see it – Wufei had been starting to act like an older version of himself, the version with a chip on his shoulder the size of an Aries suit, and this grounded him back into being the person he had become, the person who was part of the Gundam whole.

"You seem quite thoughtful, Mister Winner," Splinter said quietly. Quatre didn't miss the silent glance between him and Leonardo, the turtle rising with a polite word to go and join Donatello farther down the table where he was trying to prevent a fight.

"Please call me Quatre, Master Splinter," he told him with a smile. "I am unfortunately known by too many people as Mister Winner, people whom I neither trust nor like. I would rather be more than that here."

"In my tradition, it is disrespectful to be so familiar with any except the closest family." Splinter smiled. "We have allies whom we have considered family for many years and they are still most often Miss O'Neil and Mister Jones to me, though they have since married."

Quatre considered that. "Heero's native language is Japanese, too, so I understand. Of course, if it makes you uncomfortable you must do as you wish. But…whatever you call me, please don't do that to Heero and Duo and Trowa."

"May I ask why?"

"Names…matter to us. In war, we were known only by call-signs. It's terrible to have your name and identity taken from you. And…not everyone has a past worth remembering when they take a name. I am a Winner and Wufei is a Chang by birth and we honor those legacies. It's different for them." Quatre's face was a little pinched, but the echo of trust from the others, particularly Heero, reassured him that he had not revealed too much.

"You show much wisdom," the Daimyo said. "It is rare in one so young."

"Believe me, I've had a lot of help." Quatre smiled at where Trowa had finally intervened, quietly saying something to Duo that drew his attention away from where Leonardo was carefully talking Wufei down from demanding a duel on the spot.

"Were you always such allies?" Splinter wanted to know.

Quatre actually laughed. "Oh, no. We'd never met before the wars. Most of us started out by trying to kill one another. But then our missions started to correspond and…in the end, we worked well together."

"Hmm." The Daimyo nodded approvingly as he decided to join the conversation he had been quietly monitoring. "Sometimes there are no stronger allies than those who have chosen to share in an alliance during times of greatest conflict." The mask revealed nothing, but Quatre could sense the piercing look sent in his direction. "And how was this alliance forged? Was it a mutual desire?"

"No." That was Heero, having slipped away from the others to join Quatre – and the empath knew well that he was being very closely monitored through their connection. "Quatre did it."

"That's not really very accurate," Quatre said. "We all made our own friendships with each other along the way."

"But when the time came," Heero said, "we worked as a unit because we had you to lead us. You were the only one who could see beyond his own battle to the greater conflict."

Quatre couldn't argue the point, not exactly, so he just closed his eyes and let his heart tell Heero that he was grateful and humbled by that ever-present trust the perfect soldier had shown in him from that day forward.

"How old were you when you began participating in these wars?" the Daimyo asked.

"The wars began five and a half years ago," Quatre said. "But most of us were involved in conflicts well before then."

Even Splinter couldn't hide his surprise, his bushy eyebrows rising at the implication. But then, his sons had been engaged in a war of their own around the same time, albeit a few years older than these young men if he was any judge of human ages.

"And yet you still strive for peace and justice," the Daimyo said. "In my experience, those who go to war too young are often lost to the ways of peace and honor, their hearts turned cold with hate and violence and memory."

Heero looked up at him with a blazing expression. "That would have been my fate, too, except for Quatre. He saved us all."

"You saved me first," Quatre reminded him. "We all saved each other. Isn't that what brothers... brothers-in-arms do?"

"Yes." Splinter nodded. "Yes, that is exactly as it should be." He looked to his own sons. Leonardo had settled down with Wufei and they appeared deep in discussion about one of the turtle's favorite interests – swordsmanship. Raphael and Michelangelo appeared to be in a competition with Duo for who could eat the most. Donatello was quiet, observing his brothers, occasionally making a remark to Trowa, who seemed taciturn but polite in his replies.

"A lifetime of battle has not hardened any of your hearts," the Daimyo said. "If for no other reason, I am pleased you have made the journey to us that I might be witness to it."

Quatre didn't need his empathy to hear the sorrow in the noble Daimyo's words. He thought of the Daimyo's son and what the turtles had indicated had been his path once before. A moment later, Quatre sensed Heero was winding up to respond somehow – or else to end the conversation in a way that would inevitably come off as rude – but they were saved by Gyoji appearing at the Daimyo's other side.

"My lord. It's time."

"Thank you," the Daimyo said. "Please excuse me." He nodded to Splinter, Quatre, and Heero before rising. He stepped backwards into the palace's great hall for a moment.

Quatre's head started to spin and strange energy reverberated in his chest.

"Quatre," Heero whispered urgently. "Are you…?"

Quatre was vaguely aware of the other Gundams abruptly cutting off whatever they'd been doing with the turtles and turning to him. He knew he was mere moments from being bodily carried from the table and possibly the Nexus dimension altogether by his paranoid, over-protective team when a warm and furry hand closed over his exposed wrist.

"Breathe, Quatre-san," Splinter said softly.

Quatre wondered if anyone else knew that Heero was about two heart-beats from forcibly removing the ninja master's grip, and would have prevented the touch at all except he hadn't seen it coming; and then Trowa was at Heero's side, warning him off. Quatre sent his beloved a wash of gratitude for keeping Heero and the others calm and turned his attention back to Splinter.

"Let your mind be one with stillness," Splinter was saying. "Let not the storm overcome you. Be a silent candle in the nighttime, steady and true."

His words were soothing, but it was really his presence that made the difference. With the physical contact, Quatre's heart could latch onto the serenity and raw power inherent in the honorable rat. It cushioned his shields, eased whatever outside pressure was acting on him. Within the peace and strength of Master Splinter's soul, Quatre was able to quiet himself enough to find balance within. It took a wrenching effort, but he shored up his own mental defenses to block out the strange sensation.

The Daimyo returned carrying his War Staff aloft. When he moved from the table to stand on the prominent ledge from which he had overlooked so many tournaments, the sound of a heavy gong rang through the air.

"Welcome to the Battle Nexus Tournament!" he boomed in his commanding voice. "We are honored to have so many of you from so many worlds here to test your strength and skills against one another. Tomorrow begins the battle, which leaves us tonight to celebrate the legacy of the Nexus!"

The War Staff began to glow and the very sky above darkened with swirling clouds and light.

Splinter noted that the five young men who called themselves Gundams drew close together, many of them pressing against Quatre, lending him some form of support. When the blond's eyes opened clear and steady, Splinter removed himself, settling with his own sons farther down the table.

The Daimyo settled into a storytelling cadence. "From the first moment time and space shattered into different dimensions, there has always been a Nexus."

In the sky, the clouds cleared to reveal the past. From a single point of light came a grand explosion. Stars began to swirl into being from luminous clouds. And those stars, and the planets that followed, became hazy, slowly splitting off into mirror-images and then, with a shuddering _crack_ , two universes floated side-by-side.

"The Nexus became that which was between, that which kept different dimensions united to the same powers that birthed them. It reflected the original creation, everywhere and nowhere, a void and yet all matter in one. But as life began to grow out in the universe, the Nexus took its shape as an echo of creation beyond."

The formless void between the two universes expanded as the universes faded from view. The strange, swirling energy became a solid land, gained water, mountains, even a sun overhead.

"But the void continued to draw in all the power of all creation in thousands of different dimensions that were forever expanding and growing more complex. That power was concentrated over time into the War Staff – a lynch-pin of cosmic power fueled by every world ever born."

The barren land was being struck by countless bolts of lightning that scorched the ground until several bolts converged to forge the Staff, which then drew the lightning into itself as it crackled with power.

"The first traveler to the Nexus found it an untouched, empty land absent of any lifeforms at all. But when that traveler's feet touched the earth, from his boots came seeds and potential remembered from his former land. In his wake, life recreated itself here. He took up the War Staff, which accepted him as bearer and master because his heart was pure and his honor unquestionable."

A shadowy figure emerged on the empty plain, trees and bushes springing from his very footsteps. When he reached the War Staff and closed his hand upon it, it stopped sparking so violently, settling into his hand as docile as any walking-stick.

"That traveler had left his homeland seeking strength that he might find a place to serve with honor. From the Nexus, the traveler learned that he could journey to many worlds filled with different forms of strength, different masters willing to teach, but always the same honor. As he grew in skill and courage, others began to follow him on his journey as well, returning to the Nexus only to rest between worlds. The Nexus became their home and the traveler was named the first Daimyo."

A small crowd of people appeared in the now-lush Nexus world, building homes and training in different forms of martial arts at the base of what was clearly the waterfall that now formed the backdrop to the palace and the tournament grounds.

"The Daimyo learned that his people were in great demand in other worlds which were consumed with war, for they were among the finest warriors in any universe. The Daimyo did not attempt to corral his people from following whatever path they chose. His only rule was that the conflicts of the outside dimensions never enter into his Nexus. He decreed that the Dimensional Nexus, like its cosmic counterpart Null Time, would be neutral to any single world's ambitions."

The Nexus world continued to grow, the palace slowly emerging over time while peoples flashed between dimensions as easily as passing between doorways.

"It was in this time that the first Daimyo was challenged for rulership of the Nexus by those who wished to use the Nexus to make war on other planets and dimensions. But the first Daimyo was a powerful warrior aided by the War Staff and defeated all who dared his strength."

Several brief battles appeared and disappeared, each time the first Daimyo emerging victorious.

"As generations outside the Nexus continued, it became tradition on some worlds or in some families to journey to the Nexus to battle the Daimyo. Those who impressed him with their courage or honor or skill were awarded a place in the Nexus to learn from the Daimyo himself before taking their knowledge back to their own worlds. And with time, these warriors began to see value in learning from one another as well, beginning a tournament between the contenders to see which among them was worthiest to compete against the Daimyo himself."

The trappings of the tournament grounds were becoming far more familiar as warriors long dead raced across the arena to battle one another.

"And so, as these traditions evolved, the Daimyo recused himself from combat in the tournament, as he was still unmatched in all the worlds and could not be defeated. The Battle Nexus Tournament became not an attempt to overthrow or command the Nexus, but rather to earn the honor to have proven oneself to the ultimate warrior, the Ultimate Daimyo."

The current Daimyo's voice softened suddenly.

"But the first Daimyo's time was ending. He had no heirs of his own to inherit his place and the War Staff's power. Therefore, he looked to the champions of the Battle Nexus Tournament for one to name as heir. And thus began the tradition of the Dynastic Adjudication. The first Daimyo chose a champion to be named as the next Daimyo and passed his knowledge and his War Staff to his heir. And so it has been since the beginning of time."

The image showed a man in the Daimyo's robes handing the War Staff to a teal-skinned member of some aquatic species who accepted it with dignity. When she held the War Staff aloft, the first Daimyo bowed to her from his knees before closing his eyes with a smile.

The clouds began to swirl over the image as the Daimyo turned back to the gathered warriors.

"With this tournament, I declare a beginning to the Rite of Dynastic Adjudication. Rest well tonight, honored guests, for tomorrow may be the beginning of a destiny far grander than that of champion for one of you."

-==OOO==-

While Splinter stayed with the Daimyo to meditate together, the turtles and the Gundams were making their way back to their rooms when they almost ran into someone coming around a corner in their direction.

"Usagi!" Leo collected himself and grinned. "I was hoping we'd see you here!"

Usagi's eyes lit up as he bowed. "It is good to see you, too, Leonardo-san. It has been too long since we fought side-by-side, my friend."

The other turtles greeted Usagi cheerfully, but the Gundams stayed back, watching. After a few moments, Quatre sent a pulse of insight to the other four – his read of the ronin rabbit's emotions – and only then did they step forward.

"These are our new friends." Mikey pointed to each as he named them. "Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei, Heero Yuy, Quatre Ba-ba-ba Winner, and Trowa Barton."

Duo was already opening his mouth to correct him but Raph caught his arm. "I got this." He elbowed his younger brother sharply. "Quatre _Raberba_ Winner, you idiot."

"Aw, come on!" Mikey whined. "Duo calls Wufei all kinds of stuff! I was just trying to share the love."

Usagi, used to such antics and comfortable ignoring them, bowed. "I am Miyamoto Usagi. I had heard of your bravery in your unexpected introduction to the Nexus. It is an honor to meet you all."

Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa all bowed in return, Duo bounced, and Heero inclined his head.

"Say, Usagi?" Donatello asked. "Can you tell us more about what the Daimyo meant by the Rite of Dynastic Adjudication?"

"Certainly." The rabbit nodded. "Let us adjourn to more comfortable surroundings."

"Our place is right over there." Raph gestured.

Within minutes, the group had returned to the rooms reserved for the turtles and Gundams. Heero and Trowa took up positions leaning at opposite ends of the room while the other three Gundams settled with the turtles on the mats on the floor.

"The Rite of Dynastic Adjudication is an ancient practice begun, as you saw, by the very first Nexus Daimyo," Usagi began. "It is a means by which the current Daimyo selects a successor when he or she becomes aware that their time is drawing to a close."

"You mean the Daimyo is dying?" Mikey's eyes were wide.

Usagi shook his head. "Not necessarily. A few Daimyo have chosen to pass on the mantle of the Nexus and the War Staff while still in good health for reasons of their own."

"What about Ue-sama?" Leo wanted to know. "He's the Daimyo's son."

"Yes." Usagi nodded. "But he is very young. Because of…recent events, Ue-sama will not be ready to ascend to the position of Daimyo by the end of the Rite."

"What's the time limit on this thing?" Donnie asked.

"By tradition, the Rite of Dynastic Adjudication spans five tournaments. That gives the Daimyo enough time to consider several different champions as well as any other warriors who participate as possible heirs."

"Five tournaments?" Wufei frowned. "So the decision won't be made for another fifteen years by our count."

"Correct, Chang-san. And for those who are within the Nexus, it passes as more than four times that many years. The choice of an heir cannot be made lightly as it carries with it not only command over the tournament, nor the War Staff, but the Nexus itself."

"I can imagine," Quatre said. "If the Nexus ever became a participant in virtually any conflict in any other dimension, it would change the course of history. The Daimyo has to choose someone who won't ever use the Nexus as a means to propagate a war or influence the choices made by the people who actually live in those specific dimensions."

"Precisely." Usagi nodded at him. "Because the Daimyo has announced it for this tournament, the count of five Nexus champions will begin with whoever wins this battle." He glanced at Mikey. "Sorry, Michelangelo-san."

"That's okay. We don't even want Mikey running his _mouth_ , let alone the lynch-pin of all creation." Raph smirked.

Mikey shrugged. "I would definitely cut a dashing figure up on that pedestal, though, you gotta admit!"

"But it certainly raises the stakes of this tournament," Heero said from his position in a corner. "Whoever wins is added to the short list of possible contenders for the throne."

"And that's probably why somebody went after Ue-sama," Donnie said. "To cause chaos and possibly ensure that Ue-sama isn't on that list, either."

"Then we have a new mission." Wufei looked to the other Gundams. They nodded with him.

When it became obvious they weren't going to explain, Leo cleared his throat. "And that is…?"

Quatre met his eyes. "We must not only protect those who need protecting, but we must also ensure whoever wins this tournament is worthy. We cannot afford to allow the wrong person to take command of the War Staff or we will not be able to defend our own world if that person turns their focus to it."

"I believe that is the Daimyo's concern, and it might be beyond the purview of any not associated with him to involve onself," Usagi warned.

"Perhaps," Trowa spoke up. "But in our experience, leaders don't always know there are snakes beside them until it's too late."

"Besides." Duo shrugged. "It'll give us something to do."

"You aren't going to try to win?" Raph peered at them. "You were all gung-ho about the fight earlier."

Duo sighed. "Oh, I'll try. But I don't want to be on any galactic master of the universe pageant list to be honest. Not everybody's cut out for that kind of responsibility."

"I, too, will do my best in the tournament but would not wish to be considered for the role of Daimyo," Usagi said. "I have my own path to follow." Then he rose. "If you will excuse me, I should retire. Tomorrow will be a very exciting day."

As the turtles bid their friend farewell and the Gundams surreptitiously began a preliminary perimeter check before going to bed, Quatre's heart caught something it had sensed on and off since he'd arrived. A familiar feeling ringing loudly in an unfamiliar heart.

Maybe it was because Quatre was so used to watching Trowa, who was often overlooked by others, that he noticed Donatello. And once he became aware of it, he couldn't stop feeling himself drawn again and again to the quiet, purple-banded turtle. So while the other Gundams prepared to bed down in what they considered hostile territory, Quatre silently communicated to them that he was undertaking a reconnaissance mission of his own.

Because if there was one thing Quatre could not do, it was let a dark shadow fall upon a heart that should have been bright.

"Donatello." Quatre caught the turtle's attention while his brothers were beginning what appeared to be a nightly ritual of picking on one another until they went to bed as well. "I wondered if you wanted to discuss some of the technological differences between our worlds – including things like how to create Gundanium."

"Absolutely!" Don grinned.

"Oh, _dude_. They're gonna go be _boring._ " Mikey flopped onto Raph's shoulder. "I miss the lair. Then I wouldn't have to listen to it."

Don glanced around – the rooms were separated only by thin shoji walls and the paper was no more sound-blocking than air. "Good point."

Leo winked at him. "Go sit out on the roof, then. It's warm enough outside, and you can keep watch for a while, too," he nodded at Quatre.

"Plus it'll spare us all Mikey's whining," Raph added.

Quatre made a show of sticking his head into the room where the other four Gundams had retreated, setting up their pallets with a nonchalance none of them felt.

"I'll be up there if you need me," he said unnecessarily. While Quatre may have admitted his own empathy, he had said nothing about the silent connection between all five – and that was one secret they intended to keep if possible. Into Quatre's open heart thudded the reminder to be watchful from Heero and a warm wish for good luck from Trowa. Duo and Wufei nodded and responded verbally to keep up the ruse.

"Don't fall off!" Duo told him.

Wufei sighed. "When you finish, if you wish to maintain a rotation, wake me and I will take a turn."

Quatre nodded and headed back out into the main room. "All set, then."

As they moved to one of the windows and slid it open, Donnie glanced back. "Need a lift?"

Quatre shook his head. "Not a problem."

Donatello opted to let Quatre go first, mainly so he would be in position to react if something went awry. The way the palace was built halfway up a cliff, there was a long drop below them on this side should the blond fall. But Quatre – pretending ignorance of the sharp watchfulness of everybody in the room – stood on the windowsill and stretched for the overhanging eaves with confidence. Once his hands were locked on the edge of the roof, he kicked off with his feet, sending his body to swinging.

For one heart-stopping moment, he hung suspended over nothingness and a chasm below.

Then his momentum carried him up and he completed the flip, landing with his feet under him and his grip on the roof unbroken, facing out into the darkening night. An instant later, Donatello copied him and joined him. Together, they crept up the roof a bit to gain some distance from the open window.

"It's beautiful up here," Quatre said, listening with his heart to his Gundams settling down and the turtles turning their attention away. He encouraged their disinterest by launching into a discussion of metallurgy, technical specifications, and programming advancements – a discussion Donatello dove into with keen passion. If any of the turtles had been inclined to perch on the windowsill to overhear anything, they were gone in minutes.

Two hours later by Quatre's internal clock, two of the turtles were fast asleep and one – Leonardo, he was sure – was quietly meditating in his own room well away from the window. Quatre cast out his senses but perceived nothing else within earshot. He turned to the turtle beside him, his smile genuine as he regarded the young scientist whose quick mind has thoroughly impressed him, and began carefully redirecting their conversation.

"I am amazed that our two worlds are so different," Quatre said. "Even the future of your world as you described it is unlike my own in so many ways. It almost makes me wish I could journey forward in time myself to see what sort of world it will become."

Donatello flinched slightly. "It's pretty dangerous. And you never know what you'll find if you get there."

"True." Quatre allowed his eyes to wander out to the waterfall that sparkled in the strange moonlight. "I would not want to see a world of war, all the mistakes of our past happening all over again." _Let's see if the twinges I've been picking up lead where I think they do_.

This time Donatello shivered.

_Apparently so_. Quatre pitched his voice low and friendly. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just…bad memories."

_That's right, my friend_ , Quatre did not push his empathy against Donatello, but he could not help but want to urge him on. _Be honest with me. There's some tangled threads to unweave here_.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Quatre offered.

Don blinked. "You're an empath, right? So you already know…"

"Only what you feel." Quatre held up a hand. "Not what you remember or what is in your mind. And I try not to read too much anyway. It feels rude."

That won a wan smile. "I don't think you could be rude if you tried, Quatre." Then Don sighed. "It won't hurt me to tell you. Might even help, since there's not a lot of other people I can talk to about this stuff."

"Believe me, I understand that."

Don nodded and took a deep breath. "Remember how we told you about the Ultimate Drako and how he tossed us into different dimensions when he came back for revenge? Well, he sent me to some twisted version of the future – a future where Master Splinter was dead and my brothers hated each other and our ultimate enemy, the Shredder, had taken over the world and was getting ready to make war on the galaxy. I…I got my brothers back together to take him down."

Quatre could feel a deep, raw pain pounding against the memory. "What happened?" he whispered gently.

"We won. We beat the Shredder and saved the whole world from him. But…my brothers died. It was my plan and they died. And…the reason they had learned to hate each other in the first place was because I had disappeared…because they needed me too much and I wasn't there."

Quatre reached out a hand and gently gripped the cool shoulder beside him. With the lightest of mental touches he offered just a tiny amount of warmth. "But it didn't come true. You've been to your own future. You know that's not how it ends for your family."

"Yeah, but…maybe it still could. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow? The future isn't fixed, not for any of us. I don't believe that." Don's voice was low, and he closed a three-fingered grip over Quatre's hand tightly. "Being here…thinking about Drako…I can't help but wonder…"

"Let me guess," Quatre said. "You wonder if you can handle the pressure of knowing they depend on you so much. But they _do_ depend on you, and you wonder if you've _already_ let them down and just don't know it. You wonder if they wouldn't better off depending on someone else, on putting their trust in someone stronger. You know that your mistakes could get someone killed. And you can't stand it. And you can't stand _yourself_ for being so scared."

"Yeah." Don nodded. "All of the above." He closed his eyes. "If Mikey screws up, we have to order pizza for dinner. If Raph screws up, well, other than him and Leo competing for who can bellow the loudest, maybe we end up in a fight we didn't intend. If Leo screws up, then it's really bad."

When Don met Quatre's eyes, his own were tight with pain. "But I could screw up tomorrow and kill them all. I could miss something in our security, or poison us with fumes from a mis-installed heater, or miscalculate something on a vehicle that lands us in a wreck, or build a weapon that explodes in their hands. And in battle…"

"They trust you," Quatre said softly. "Leonardo might lead them, but they trust you to figure out how to handle whatever's happening. They trust you to know everything they don't know. Leo might lead your family into a trap, but it's you who might fail to get them _out_ of the trap."

"Exactly." Don's head tipped down with the heaviness of his burden.

"And it doesn't help that you think you're an outsider among them," Quatre continued. "That you think you're not as strong, not as good a fighter as your brothers. That your ways are too gentle for the world in which you have to live. You wonder how you can guide them, teach them, protect them, when no one else seems to ache with the world the way you do."

"I couldn't even protect Ue-sama today," Don whispered. "How can I protect any of them?"

"By doing your best. By never giving up. By reminding yourself that they _do_ trust you completely. They do. They trust you with their lives every minute of the day. And they respect your kindness. They might even wish they could share in it. They're not afraid of your mistakes. They're afraid _for_ you. Afraid they ask too much. Afraid of the day your heart turns cold under the weight of everything."

Donatello looked up into the blue-green eyes that met his patiently and steadily. "I…I want to believe that's all true. But it's so hard."

"I know. Trust me, I know." Quatre squeezed his shoulder. "I understand everything you're feeling, Donnie. All of it."

"Helps to be an empath." Don tried to smile.

Quatre shook his head. "No. Because that's exactly the position _I_ am in with the Gundams. The only difference is that I'm also the tactical leader as well."

Don chuckled. "I wouldn't wish for that. Leo's job is hard enough. Yours, too, probably."

"I could tell you stories." Quatre smiled a bit.

"I think I'd like that. Maybe not tonight. But, you know. Someday. And then I'll tell you some of the crazy things we've had to deal with, too."

Quatre nodded. "It's a deal."

"Anyway, thanks for listening to me," Don said, rolling his shoulders as though the stretching could undo the moment. "It's really good to have someone willing to talk about this stuff."

But Quatre tightened his grip on the shoulder and held on. "It's okay if you need to drop this for now. I know there are times when someone like you can't let yourself work through this kind of issue, when you have to stay focused."

Don looked quizzically into the intense, knowing expression now turned on him in full.

"But don't for one moment think that means this is over. You're going to have to face those fears and possible futures and make some kind of peace with them. If you don't, you're only going to have them thrown in your face at the worst possible time…and with the worst possible consequences."

Don felt a shiver of something cold. "What do you mean?"

Quatre smiled, and it wasn't a nice smile. "Let's just say I know _exactly_ how it feels to get your brothers killed. Only, in my case, it wasn't a theoretical future. It really happened. Almost."

"How? Why?"

"That's an even longer story." Quatre shook his head. "But what matters is that I never _ever_ let it happen again. And the only way I can do that is to live a life based on emotions other than fear and uncertainty. If I let doubt creep into my decisions, someday I really will kill everything I love."

"No way. You could never." Don gulped. _I could never. Could I_? "You could never kill them."

Quatre's smile was darker than ever. "That's the thing about people like you and I, Donatello. When we make mistakes, we're the ones _most_ likely to do just that. Which is why you can't doubt. Can't fear. Can't hold onto the shadows forever. Or one day they'll rise up and swallow you whole, and everything you care about will be caught in a storm of your own making."

"You're scaring me here, Quatre."

Quatre's smile gentled. "No, I'm not. I'm saying what you've already been thinking. And the only way to keep you from being right is to change the words in your heart. I can't do that for you."

"Can't you?" Don asked. He wasn't sure if he was scientifically curious or desperate for a cure to his own fears.

"Well, I guess maybe I could. But it wouldn't mean anything. The courage and trust has to come from you, Don. From inside you. Otherwise, it won't be real enough to stand up against the world."

Don considered that for a moment. Finally, he asked, "Do you think I can do it? Do you think I can get this fear under control and keep that future from coming to pass?"

Quatre grinned warmly now, his face transforming. "Donatello, I don't think I've ever met anyone _more_ capable of it than you. Myself included. No, I'm not afraid of you or for you. I'm proud to know you."

Don paused to let those words settle somewhere inside himself. Then he said, "You're a good friend, Quatre."

"As are you," Quatre told him. "And I don't have as many friends as you'd think."

"No, I suppose you don't." Don nodded. "In fact, Leo kept introducing you guys as friends, but nobody ever really seemed to agree with it. I mean, nobody said anything but…well, nobody said anything."

"Perceptive and accurate," Quatre approved. "No, none of us make friends that easily. Or, sometimes, at all. The others won't admit to something like friendship with your family until they feel ready to trust you."

"But you do?"

"I'm calling you a friend, aren't I?"

Don smiled. "I guess you are." And he knew, without being an empath, without knowing for sure from whence came such certainty, how rarely that was given so quickly, if at all, by even this most open of the five Gundams.

_Just like us_ , Don thought to himself. _Alone in a world that doesn't see them as anything but monsters with only each other to keep them safe. No wonder they're so close_.

But as Quatre stretched and began to make his way down the roof towards the window, their conversation clearly ended for the night, Don wondered what his new friend _hadn't_ said. He imagined it was quite a lot.

And he wasn't entirely sure he was ready to know.


	5. Light the Fuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to get this tournament started!
> 
> Enjoy!

Leonardo woke before dawn and rose without a sound. He moved through the borrowed quarters like a wisp of smoke, pausing to peek in on his brothers one at a time. Donatello was sleeping fitfully, twitching under the light blanket that he'd flung across himself. Raph, Leo found, was curled up facing the doorway of the room he'd claimed, one sai visible in his hand and the other out of sight but probably held tight against his plastron – ready at any instant to spring into battle. Only Michelangelo was curled up and cozy-looking, a charmed smile on his face and utterly at rest.

Leo paused at the door to the room the turtles had offered their five new friends. _It's really too small for five. We should have offered to double up and given them two rooms_ , he thought. The door was slightly open, and Leo bent to peer through the gap.

And came face-to-face with a gun barrel.

Only a lifetime of ninja training kept him from yelping aloud. Leo let out a breath and whispered as softly as he could, "It's me. Don't shoot."

The door opened a crack wider and Leo could make out the face of Heero Yuy in the false dawn's light. The blue-eyed Gundam holstered his gun and glared at Leo coldly.

"Didn't mean to scare you. I was just going out for morning training and wanted to make sure you were okay in there." Saying it out loud, Leo was sure startling the war-hardened group hadn't been his brightest idea ever.

Heero nodded once and then closed the door the rest of the way.

_Nice guy_ , Leo thought as he rolled his eyes. _On the other hand, if I'd woken Raph, I might have gotten a sai in the gut for my trouble. Some people are just not made for mornings_.

Slipping from the main door, Leo made his way down a stone causeway to a nearby patio that was large enough for him to move and far enough away that he wouldn't disturb anyone as he began his morning routine. By the time the first true sunlight struck the edge of the little inner courtyard, Leo had warmed up completely and was mid-way through one of the more sedate forms that was his current favorite for centering himself.

Suddenly Leo felt more than heard someone settle in beside him. He knew without opening his eyes that it was not one of his brothers, nor Master Splinter – he could sense his family even upside-down, underwater, and drugged halfway out of his mind. Whoever had come, it was someone who also knew this particular kata. An instant later, Leo understood.

When he finished the final sweeping move and brought himself back to center, opening his eyes, he was not surprised to find all five Gundams ranged behind him.

"Good morning," he said.

Quatre smiled and dipped his head politely, but none of the others so much as looked at Leonardo. He was reminded of the odd silence they had employed yesterday when Quatre was unconscious, never so much as uttering a word to one another, refusing to acknowledge any questions, barely even resting so much as a glance on him other than when they were clearly assessing him as a threat.

But while he stood there staring at them, Wufei shifted his stance into another kata form, one that was familiar. Leo stepped back to give the five some more room and watched.

As Wufei led the others through the motions, Leo found himself focusing less on their movements and more on their faces. Certainly, they worked through the form with a practiced, focused ease – one Leo knew meant all five had studied enough to make this particular routine second-nature. And when the body settled into discipline, the mind and soul could be revealed.

What Leo saw as he watched the Gundams move was a strange sort of unity. All five had their eyes closed, and they had shifted so that they stood in a wide circle facing inward. They were close enough to one another that they might have risked running into each other if not for the fluid precision of their motions. Each moved at exactly the same instant, as though they were not five individuals but one mind in five bodies.

And their faces, their expressions…

Leo had expected serenity from Quatre and Wufei. The look of absolute stillness on Duo was strange enough, but the concentrated peace evident in Heero's face was what really struck Leo. They all looked peaceful, but compared to the cold-eyed warrior Leo had known so far, to see him in a state of near contentment was more than a little disconcerting.

With every moment that passed, a tension built in the air, a building pressure Leo couldn't quite explain but he certainly felt. As the tension grew, the Gundams began to move a little more forcefully. The form slowly morphed into a different one, a block turning into a punch, a slow kick taking on more speed, until Leo recognized an entirely different kata at work. And still the five Gundams were moving in tandem, the practiced unity in slipping between forms making the change even more clear.

At once, the five Gundams shifted their weight to their back feet, bringing up a sharp snap-kick and turning in place until now they faced outward, hands at the ready, feet apart in a rooted stance. They froze, standing perfectly still, eyes still closed, braced for a battle. And then, as one, they each took two large steps backwards, never dropping their guard until they had closed their circle and stood with their shoulders touching in an unbroken ring. Only then did they open their eyes.

"Good morning, Leonardo," Wufei said. And with his words, the strange tension in the air vanished and the five returned to themselves, breaking out of their tight circle and shaking out their arms more naturally.

"Where's the rest of your family?" Trowa asked.

_Apparently we're not going to talk about whatever just happened._ Leo mentally shook his head. Smiling anyway, he shrugged. "They don't get up as early as I do. Especially Raph. I think he's allergic to mornings."

"I know I am!" Duo grinned.

"When does the tournament begin today?" Heero asked.

Leo glanced at the sky. "Pretty soon, I think. The team battles are up first. It's a quicker way to get through the elimination rounds to have everybody who came as part of a group competing at once."

"And to advance, we must triumph as a team?" Wufei asked.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. If you had come by yourself, you'd fight one-on-one in the elimination round with another single warrior. But if you show up as a team, you'll get matched to another team of the same number of fighters. Master Splinter always competes as a single and already told us to enter as a team without him."

"Good." Duo smiled. "Then we don't have to fight you guys."

"Not yet," Trowa noted. "But as the numbers decrease, the chance of us meeting in the ring at some point increases."

Leo wondered what kind of opponents the Gundams would be if and when he or any of his brothers met them later on in the tournament.

A loud gong sounded in the air.

"Breakfast?" Heero asked.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. We better grab my brothers or I'll have to listen to them fight on an empty stomach all morning." He started up the steps back towards the rooms, the Gundams falling in around him as though protecting him from something.

_I wonder what they're up to_ , he thought. And then, _I wonder why Quatre's so quiet today_.

-==OOO==-

Breakfast was a more casual affair than the previous evening's dinner, with rows of food set out on long tables but no particular organization to it. The turtles moved in the crowd confidently if not altogether easily. Between Michelangelo's victory – twice – and their other actions in the Nexus, they were somewhat well-known. But even Mikey was grateful when he had a heaping plate of food and could retreat to a corner with his brothers and the Gundams and Usagi.

"What, tired of being adored?" Donnie asked him with a nudge.

"Hey, there's only so much of me to go around!" Mikey grinned brightly. But he didn't venture back out into the crowd again.

Where the turtles had been shy, the Gundams were downright invisible. They went out in teams of two, leaving three behind in their corner, rotating the shifts and bringing back enough to hold the others while the next group went foraging.

It was Raph who settled next to Duo. "What's with the tag-teaming the breakfast tables?"

Duo shrugged lightly, never taking his eyes off where Heero and Quatre were halfway across the ring piling bread-like items on a pilfered tray. "It's still hostile territory. And there's still somebody who sent a bunch of ninjas after that kid. If we were all focused on acquiring food, someone could get the drop on us."

"So you send out two and watch their backs from here?" Raph considered that. "But what if somebody was going for Heero and Quatre? You're too far away to help them."

"Spoken like a guy who doesn't use guns." Duo smirked. "Trust me, we're plenty of backup from here at twice the distance. Besides, we don't have to help them. We just have to warn them and lay down some cover fire while they get clear or take out the threat themselves."

"You really think somebody's gonna try something right here?" Raph could feel his skin prickle with a cold sense of dread.

"Nah, probably not. But we'd rather be hyper-vigilant and wrong than sloppy and dead." Duo glanced away from his sentry duty long enough to wink at Raph. "Believe me, if we thought there was gonna be trouble, Heero would have brought more than just two guns to breakfast."

-==OOO==-

"Assembled warriors!" The Daimyo's voice boomed over the crowd. "Today begins our Battle Nexus Tournament! Ready yourselves!"

Gyoji floated down to the empty ring, waving his fan. "Each team will be randomly paired with another team numbering the same count of warriors. Your matches will feel as though they begin simultaneously, but in actuality there will be a time delay between you to ensure proper judging. Now, if you will, as a team, step through the portal that appears before you, we can begin."

"Good luck, guys." Mikey gave a thumbs-up to the five Gundams standing together.

"You too." Trowa smiled slightly at the turtles.

A portal blossomed in midair before Leonardo. "Come on, guys. Let's do this." And he strode forward.

Between one blink and the next, Leo found himself in the woods surrounding the Nexus village. Gyoji appeared.

"Clan Hamato from dimension Third Earth, you will battle the Alpha Squad from dimension Twelfth Florrix."

Before the turtles appeared four huge blue and grey aliens. Their bodies were slug-like with clawed, stubby legs holding them upright. But there was no appreciable difference from their tails that sat on the ground to their abdomens that bulged outward to their long, heavy necks – they were just one thickly-sinewy body with limbs. Their heads were rather flat and squat, their lower jaws protruding far beyond their upper jaws, and they had pointed teeth and pointed claws on their scrawny arms.

Leo drew his blades and glanced around to his brothers just long enough to make sure the others were ready.

"Begin!"

The nearest of the creatures pivoted on a foot that gripped the dirt and swept its tail like a whip. The four ninja jumped high over it, but Donatello, who was closest to it, brushed his foot against the bluish, scaly flesh.

"Yikes!" he shouted in surprise. "These guys are _cold_!"

Raph was closing with another and launched a dragon-kick into the thing's unprotected belly. The flesh absorbed the hit like a sponge, and everywhere his foot had touched felt like it had been dropped into freezing water. "You ain't kiddin', Donnie! What are they, ice aliens?" He hopped on one foot and grimaced at the cold burn that had left his toes completely numb.

"Yessss…" One was maybe smiling as he hissed in answer, but who knew with their strange faces. "We are."

Leo was dodging blows with a third, who had produced a pair of metal chain-whips it was using to keep the turtle at bay. "Don't get too close!" he ordered. Sub-zero temperatures were a serious liability for the cold-blooded turtles, and even if Gyoji would end the fight before anyone got too seriously hurt, Leo wasn't about to run the risk.

"Easier said than done, dude!" Mikey jumped into the air, landing a bashing blow on the back of the neck of his opponent, but he only barely evaded being grabbed by the icy claws.

Donatello was fending his off admirably with his bo, but his mind was racing. If they couldn't touch their opponents without getting frostbite, they would be at a disadvantage. _They must have a weakness. If we can figure out what it is_ … He dodged another swipe by a tail and noticed a strange black mark on it that hadn't been there the first time he had evaded it.

And then it hit him all at once. "The cold hurts us, but the heat of our bodies hurts them!"

Raph grunted. "I ain't hugging these guys to win, Donnie!"

"You don't have to." Don shook his head. "Use your weapon!"

Even Leo turned to his brother in surprise as he backed up a bit. Donatello was rubbing his bo between his hands like he would a branch in a pile of kindling to get a spark. He dodged the creature who was trying to get to him, never letting up rubbing the bo between his palms. Then, after a few moments, he reversed his grip on the bo and struck – hitting the creature right over the head with the spot on the bo that he had warmed.

The alien dropped to the ground like a bag of dirt.

"Nice going!" Mikey cheered. He began copying the technique, warming one baton against his body while he fended his opponent off with the other nunchaku. When he swapped them out and struck with the warm one, his alien went down as well.

After that, Raph was able to easily take out the third one with his sai warmed against his plastron.

Leo's blades were hard to warm against himself while keeping in motion given the risk of slicing himself on them, so he kept fighting and looking for an opening he could use. At last, he simply jumped above the remaining ice alien and landed on its head with his bare feet.

"Leo!" Don shouted. "You'll get hurt!"

"Not before he will!" Leo called back, fighting to maintain his balance while stomping downwards.

His gambit paid off. After only a few seconds, the alien stopped flinging its head around and dropped, gasping. An instant later, all four of the creatures vanished.

"The Clan Hamato of Third Earth is victorious," came Gyoji's voice.

The turtles gathered around Leo and looked at his feet. Donatello wasted no time dropping to one knee to examine them up close.

"You okay, bro?" Mikey asked.

Leo smiled. "Not any worse than New York in the winter, really." He tried to stretch his toes and felt a familiar cold burn, but they still moved okay.

Raph chuckled at him. "That was some stunt, Fearless."

"Hey, Gyoji?" Don looked up at the retreating figure. "Have our friends finished their battle yet?"

"No. In fact, they will begin shortly if you wish to observe."

"Shell yeah!" Mikey cheered.

Gyoji waved his fan and they found themselves overlooking a small clearing from a nearby hill. Below, the five Gundams were just emerging from a glowing portal. Even at this distance, there was no doubt that they were clustered together as though in some sort of group hug.

"They're so paranoid," Mikey said, not cruelly, but with concern. "They're actually holding onto each other to get through the portal."

"I…don't think that's it," Donatello said quietly.

"Nor do I, my son." Master Splinter spoke from behind them. He smiled slightly at his sons and joined them on the ridge. But before his brothers could question him further, Gyoji appeared below.

"Warriors known as the Gundam Pilots from dimension Eighth Earth, you will battle the Sohei Order of the Phoenix from dimension Fifth HooLan."

"Oh, that's gonna be tough." Raph looked appraisingly over the Gundams' opponents. Five men dressed very like the Buddhist monks that would have been part of a Sohei discipline on their own Earth centuries ago were emerging from a portal fully armored and armed with either long spears or naginatas. "Our boys are definitely at a disadvantage against weapons like that."

"You think so?" Leo raised an eye-ridge. "I think that's _why_ they have the advantage."

Below, Gyoji raised an arm. "Begin!"

Two of the Sohei warriors, those armed with spears, immediately lowered them and charged for Trowa and Heero – the Gundams with the shortest blades – making the best use of their long weapons. The three who bore naginatas closed with their opponents more slowly. The turtles were surprised to see their Gundam allies waiting to be attacked. It seemed off, somehow.

And then the five Gundams _exploded_ into motion.

With a leap more graceful than any cat, Trowa launched himself into the air, spinning high above the battle. At the same time, Wufei charged the lead trio of Sohei with his blade drawn and caught all three naginatas on the flat of his blade. Quatre intercepted the strike of one of the spear-wielders and was closing inside his guard, curved blade flashing in the sunlight. And Heero was making a stand against the other Sohei with a spear. Just as one of the three with a naginata broke out of Wufei's guard and lifted his weapon to strike, Duo popped up out of nowhere.

An instant later, Trowa hit the ground behind the five Sohei warriors. Blades winked in the air and two of the naginata-wielders cried out as their heavy head-wraps were torn neatly in half, falling into their faces and covering their eyes while Duo kicked one hard in the stomach. The third was driven to the ground by Wufei who expertly disarmed him and held him at the point of his sword. Meanwhile, Quatre was still harrying the remaining spear-wielder.

"Look." Splinter drew their eyes back to Heero who was a little apart from the others. "Look how he fights."

"He's obviously skilled." Leo watched the battle unfold, more than a little surprised by the odd ease with which Heero used the uncommon weapon in his hands to block the spear-thrusts. "But he...the way he's throwing himself into the fight..."

"He fights like Raph," Don said softly. "He uses his body like a battering ram. See, he's already been hit, but it never slows him down."

"Hey, I resemble that remark." Raph grunted. "But they all do that. Fight like they _expect_ to get hurt and it doesn't matter."

"I kinda think that's because it didn't matter." Mikey's voice was serious for once. "They fight like _they're_ the weapons. Because that's how people in their world saw them."

"You are wise, for once, my son," Splinter said.

Below, Heero allowed the spear to skitter along his arm while he got a grip on the Sohei warrior's armor and executed a perfect drop-and-throw, curling his body downward and using his momentum to pull his much heavier opponent off his feet, slamming him on his back. Heero sprang from the ground and shoved the sharp point of his suntetsu into the gap under the Sohei's chin just shy of a killing blow.

To one side, Trowa and Duo had brought down the remaining two with naginatas. Only Quatre was still fighting with the remaining spear-wielder.

"The spear!" Don cried as he suddenly understood what Quatre was trying to do.

As the words left his mouth, Quatre struck the spear aside as he'd done more than once before during the altercation. The spear snapped and Quatre grabbed for the pointed end, pulling it away before his opponent could stop him. With a practiced motion he got the shortened spear into his right hand and the khanjar into his left. The Sohei warrior charged him empty-handed and Quatre easily used the remaining shaft of the spear to trip him up. The Soehi had only just hit the ground, flat on his back, when Quatre pinned his weight down from above, spear held high and the khanjar at his throat.

The five Sohei warriors vanished.

"The Gundam Pilots of Eight Earth are victorious," Gyoji's voice rang out.

"Interesting," Splinter commented as he watched the five Gundams move close together, clearly inspecting one another for injury. From the hilltop they couldn't hear what was said, but they could see the blood on Heero's arm and all five vanished with Gyoji a moment later.

"I think we just learned more about our new friends than we knew before," Leo said.

"You mean that they're super tough and have a battle complex?" Mikey asked.

"And that they cover for one another's weaknesses," Don added.

"That's why Duo and Trowa went with Wufei, right?" Raph asked. "He's clearly the best of them at hand-to-hand, and they were the most outmatched. So they teamed up."

"And trusted Heero-san and Quatre-san to handle their opponents without assistance," Splinter finished. "But, I believe had their opponents been a different group of five, we might have seen a different formation."

"They just did it without thinking about it." Leo was still staring at the empty clearing. "They didn't talk about it. They didn't need to."

"No, they didn't," Don's face was creased in deep thought. "And I'm starting to think there's a reason behind it that isn't just that they're a team."

-==OOO==-

The turtles and their sensei made their way back to the palace grounds, stopping to peek in on various other battles as they happened. The advantage of the team elimination round was that it quickly cut the number of potential candidates in the tournament from hundreds to a few dozen. Splinter guided them on their way to a wide open plain where an outright battle was occurring between two teams numbering close to one hundred on each side. Splinter explained that some dimensions sent an army by tradition, but the side that won would opt out of competing individually – only their commander would continue on in the tournament to uphold the honor of his entire force.

By the time they reached the tournament arena, the Gundams had already assembled, Heero's arm bound up neatly by the medics.

"Can you still participate, Yuy-san?" Usagi was asking politely.

"Affirmative." Heero nodded sharply.

Duo, beside him, was bobbing in place. "I've seen him set his own broken leg and then be ready to jump into a fire-fight. Trust me, a little scratch won't keep Hee-chan down."

"We saw your fight." Raph sauntered up and nodded in greeting. "Nice work, boys."

"It was an honorable duel." Wufei was smirking. "In spite of our...unorthodox methods."

"Hey, if it works, it works!" Mikey grinned at him.

"What happens now?" Quatre asked.

"The first single-combat round begins as soon as the rest are over," Leo said. "Maybe we'll meet you one-on-one."

"I look forward to a rematch of our previous tournament battle, Leonardo-san." Usagi smiled at him.

Further conversation was cut off as the Daimyo rose from his seat and opened the round.

The morning progressed in a blur from that point on. In the first single-combat round, all the Gundams and the turtles, Splinter, and Usagi were split up against unknown opponents. All emerged victorious except for Usagi, who had been paired with a ninja master in red, one he had never seen before. The helmet and padded armor hid the ninja's identity, but did not appear to prevent them from eventually getting the upper hand against the ronin samurai rabbit. Usagi was sorely disappointed to be eliminated so quickly, but as the healers set his broken arm and began the magics that would speed its recovery, he was slightly grateful.

_If that one does not advance to the final round, I will be a poor judge of a warrior indeed_ , he thought to himself.

The turtles and Gundams barely had a chance to speak to one another before the second round was called.

Splinter, Leonardo, Raphael, Heero, Trowa, and Wufei all emerged victorious from fierce but relatively quick battles. This meant they were able to move higher in the ring in time to see the outcomes of their friends' remaining matches.

"Oh, come on! This is so unfair!" Mikey whined.

"I think sensei would call this _karma._ " Donatello grinned at him as he twirled his bo threateningly.

"Eep!" Mikey bounced away from his brother.

With Raph and Leo cheering him on, Donatello handed a defeat to his baby brother and the most recent Battle Nexus Champion.

"Yeah! I am so buying Don a new computer every month for a year after this!" Raph did a victory dance.

"He really did that well." Leo nodded approvingly. "And Mikey wasn't exactly going easy on him."

"Michelangelo does not fight as well against his brothers as he does against true enemies," Splinter commented. "Which is as it should be." Then he smiled wryly. "And perhaps it may earn us all some peace for a time."

Suddenly, beside them where they had been watching quietly, Heero gave a sharp breath in and clutched at his chest. Trowa staggered into Wufei with a low moan.

"What's going on?" Leo demanded, instinctively drawing his swords against an invisible threat.

Trowa shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed. Heero pointed with a hand that shook. "Quatre."

Still fighting in the ring, Quatre had been paired with the red-clad ninja who had defeated Usagi. Quatre had been primarily fighting defensively against his opponent, clearly trying to gauge the skills and likely tactics that would be used against himself. But he had at last closed with the ninja and struck with his blade. He had gotten in a few good hits, but then the ninja master got behind him and drew him into a close hold, a long katana blade against his throat.

"He's okay." Raph tried to reassure the Gundams. "He'll get pulled out of there any second."

"It's not that," Wufei said tightly. "It's his empathy."

Sure enough, a moment later, when the ninja tightened their hold on Quatre and the blond gave a cry of pain that had nothing to do with the katana, he vanished to reappear in the medical wing above. But he stumbled away from the medical personnel who were approaching him, his face white as snow. Wufei took off from their position, practically dragging Heero and Trowa with him as he raced for the infirmary.

"Cat!" came a cry from below.

Duo had been in combat with an orange-skinned creature that looked vaguely like a pickle. Never taking his eyes from where Quatre had appeared on the ledge, he broke from his opponent and reached into the folds of his black shirt where it was gathered at his back.

Duo snarled as he drew a gun and pointed it at the pickle-person. "We're ending this _now_. I don't know if I gotta call time-out or what, but I am done fighting you and if you try to stop me, you get to meet Shinigami up close."

"You can surrender or you can be disqualified for the use of a firearm." Gyoji suddenly appeared. "But if you attempt to fire it, you will be removed from combat in dishonor."

"I run and hide but I never tell a lie," Duo growled, "so surrender is fine with me. Just get me up there _now_!"

Gyoji nodded once and he and Duo vanished.

"What's going on?" Raph peered at the medical viewing area. Quatre was pressing his back to the wall and keeping the medical staff away from him with a sort of desperate need. "Should we go help?"

"Our friend has a great deal of help already," Splinter told them. "We must trust in them to guard their own unless you wish to withdraw with honor from the tournament."

The Daimyo called the end of the round and all the winners were portaled back to the ring.

"Is Quatre okay?" Leo asked Wufei who appeared nearest him.

"No." Wufei shook his head. "But he will be. Maxwell will protect him."

"As will I." Trowa stepped forward and bowed to the Daimyo above. "With your permission, I would like to remove myself from the competition to see to the well-being of my hus-teammate."

Donatello traded looks with Leonardo, considering what exactly Trowa had almost said.

"If that is your wish, I will honor it." The Daimyo nodded. He raised the War Staff and Trowa vanished, reappearing above where Duo was beside Quatre and keeping all others away by the force of his glare alone.

"Now he will be safe for the moment," Heero said darkly.

"Let the third round begin!" thundered the voice of the Daimyo. Walls began to rise up in the arena, splitting the remaining warriors into pairs. Raphael found himself facing Heero, while in the next section Wufei was bowing deeply to Master Splinter. Leo was slightly disappointed to find himself lining up against Duo's pickle-opponent rather than one of the Gundams or his brothers or that ninja in red. It was Donatello who nervously fingered his bo as he regarded the ninja master in red across from him.

"Nice," Raph told Heero as he flipped his hold on his sais. "Now _this_ is what I'm talkin' about!"

"Hn," was all Heero said to that. Then he charged.

Heero's first strike was brutal, and Raphael remembered how Donnie had said Heero 'used his body like a battering ram.' _It's sure a lot worse up close_ , he thought grimly. Raph was used to hitting hard, but for all the scrawniness of Heero's frame, he packed a stunning amount of strength.

While trading blows almost evenly, Raph caught a glittering look from Heero that gave him a chill. A moment later, Heero shifted his angle of attack and Raph recoiled almost without thinking about it. It was either take a step back or impale the kid's throat with the baton of his right-hand sai. Off-balance, Raph tried to bring up his other hand to guard and found his feet tangled in a leg that was rooted like steel to the ground.

His shell never hit the floor. Raph roared angrily all the way to the infirmary.

Splinter smiled wryly at his son's anger from over the wall. "It appears Raphael has been defeated."

Wufei had broken off his head-on attack and was circling more cautiously. "Is he always so angry?"

"Yes," Splinter said. "Are you, Chang-san?"

Wufei's eyes narrowed. "No. I do not court anger any longer."

"Good. Or you might be easily led into defeat."

"I know that lesson well, I have to admit." Wufei smiled very slightly.

"Then I must admit a truth as well." Splinter returned the small smile. "I ought to have withdrawn sooner than this, to leave room for a new champion in the competition. But I wished to test your skills myself." With that, Splinter sped forward with a speed Wufei couldn't have matched in Nataku and he barely got his dao up in time. He fought hard and he knew in his heart that he had made his ancestors proud, but against a true Master, as he had once memorably before, he found himself on his knees.

"You are superb, Chang-san," Splinter said with an approving nod. "You bear your legacy well."

Wufei bowed his head. "Thank you, Master Splinter." And then he vanished from the ring and Splinter dropped to meditate until the next round was called.

Leonardo did not give the orange pickle his best effort. His mind was on too many other things, mainly the distress of the Gundams. But he did defeat his opponent cleanly and with enough skill that he didn't feel he would have disappointed his sensei if Splinter had witnessed it.

But in the last remaining battle, things were not so simple.

Donatello heaved in a deep breath. The ninja in red was kicking his shell all across the stone ground, and he was down to running on pure stubbornness now.

"Where are you from, anyway?" Don asked as he watched his opponent stalk him like prey. _Tired, out-matched prey_ , he thought ruefully. _I hope Raph isn't watching. Or Leo. He'll have me doing flips for months_.

When the red ninja charged, Don was ready with a defense. If nothing else, the fighting style was familiar, so he knew what to expect usually before it happened. It reminded him of the depressing regularity of fighting the Foot on a rooftop – it was so familiar he didn't have to think too hard about his options.

Familiar. Really, _really_ familiar.

Don made an over-hand strike with the bo while sweeping with his feet and the red ninja flipped to the side to evade.

_I know this fighting style. It's not just similar. It's exact_.

The truth hit him harder than any punch landed on him yet today.

With a deep breath, Donatello made a snap decision. He launched himself on an attack calculated to leave him open on his weak side. _This is gonna hurt_.

The ninja in red made the strike he was expecting, knocking most of the air from his lungs and kicking away his bo. But it also freed up his near hand. Even as Donatello plopped to the ground plastron-first, he felt the helmet and cloth swaddling that had hidden the ninja's identity come loose.

"Didn't think we'd be seeing _you_ here," he said low and warningly.

"You will pay for that, turtle!" The long sword was raised in a killing blow.

Donatello could feel Gyoji pulling him away. He took his chance and grinned rakishly. "See you around, _Karai_!"


	6. Downward Descending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep meaning to write a more substantive note and then forgetting to put the chapter up until nearly bedtime, so I'll have to put it off another week. Sorry!
> 
> Hey, anybody want to guess the soundtrack for the story? Should be coming together by now, huh?
> 
> Enjoy!

Raphael met Donatello when he appeared on the medical area's balcony overlooking the tournament arena. "That was Karai?" he demanded.

Don winced and ran a hand over his side, feeling the swelling already developing from a blow that would have broken his ribcage had he been human. "Yeah. And she's more…Karai-ish than usual," he said.

Raph's glare softened. "Let's get you to those healers, bro. You're sounding like Mikey." He wrapped an arm around his brother's shell to support his weight and guided him to the rows of beds and mats along one wall.

"You fought well, Donatello-san," Usagi approved. The ronin rabbit was seated on a bench, holding his splinted arm carefully. "Our mutual opponent was very skilled and appeared to be quite motivated." He glanced at his arm.

"Yeah, but that 'mutual opponent' happens to be Karai, daughter of the Shredder." Raph growled angrily as he sat Donatello down on a bed. A purple-skinned healer glided over and ran his hands over the bruise that was visible in spite of the plastron along Donatello's side.

Mikey bounced up. "What the shell is Karai doing here?" He glanced down at Don and stared at his feet for an instant before stretching out an open hand with a rueful huff. "Good game, bro."

Donatello smiled in relief; it wouldn't be impossible for his brother to take his loss poorly and Don was very glad he hadn't. "Thanks, Mikey." He gave him a high-three.

Raph moved around to stand next to Michelangelo to give the healer more room. "What's with our buddies over there?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

Donatello squinted around his brothers, trying to ignore the poking and prodding of the medical staff, and spotted their Gundam friends in a corner. Quatre was curled up on a mat with his back tight to the wall, his knees to his chin, eyes closed. Trowa was sitting in front of him, leaning his weight backwards and pressing them together with Quatre's side along his spine, eyes also closed. Wufei had settled himself on Quatre's other side and was apparently talking to him in a low voice. Duo had a gun in his hands and was standing braced just in front of them, eyes promising death to any who approached.

"They are _not_ Mister Friendlies right now, I'll tell you that!" Mikey said. "They're doing that thing where they won't talk to me, except for Duo telling me to go away."

"What happened?" Don asked. He hissed in surprise as the purple-skinned healer began slathering something wet and thick on his side, but the hiss turned into a sigh as the strange goo started to warm and ease his pain.

"I dunno." Raph shrugged. "We were watching the fights and when Karai grabbed Quatre, Heero and Trowa kind of froze up. And then they all – well, not panicked because I bet they don't panic without some of that world-ending stuff they were talking about – but they were really freaked out."

"The warrior called Quatre wouldn't let us near," the purple healer at Donatello's side spoke up. "He is displaying signs of psychic distress, as are several of his teammates. We could do more to help them if they would permit it, but given the level of injury, we will do more harm than good if we force healing upon them."

"Psychic distress?" Mikey asked. "What's that mean?"

"Quatre said he was an empath," Don said, feeling himself relax and go a little boneless as the warmth from the goo started to crawl inside like a hot bath pouring over all his aches and pains. "And I bet Karai's emotions aren't exactly welcoming."

But Raph frowned. "Uh, are you forgetting those guys were soldiers? In a war? If Quatre could hack his empathy on a battlefield with hundreds of people dying all around him, one peek at Karai's messed-up head shouldn't faze him like this."

Mikey and Don looked at one another and then back to the Gundams, wondering.

Over in the corner, Duo didn't need his connection to Quatre to feel the eyes and concern of the turtles focused not-too-subtly on his group. In another mindset, he might even have appreciated their genuine worry and budding feelings of protectiveness on behalf of the Gundam team. But it didn't matter right now. At this moment, he would gut anybody – the Daimyo himself, Relena Peacecraft, any one of Quatre's however-many sisters – if they crossed him.

Because if Duo couldn't protect Quatre from what was happening _inside_ him, there was no way in hell he wouldn't protect him on the _outside_.

Quatre shuddered against Trowa. There was no room in his heart for Duo's protectiveness or worry, for Wufei's focused calm or his residual guilt for bringing them here in the first place, for Trowa's love and trust and patience. He was too busy fighting against a stain of pure evil that seemed to twist inside him like a poison. Too busy trying to keep his mind his own, to keep the storm inside from overtaking his defenses. He could not let this new horror feed the insane destruction that still haunted his deepest psyche, could not let it draw forth the capacity for evil that Quatre had already spent years struggling to contain.

And far away, Quatre knew Heero was preparing himself for another battle and Quatre couldn't let this impair him, couldn't let this cause Heero to fail. Not when Quatre didn't know who Heero would be fighting, not when it might mean leaving Heero vulnerable to that hateful soul in the next round. Behind his shut eyes, Quatre's will hardened. He had overcome worse before. He could do it again. He _must_.

-==OOO==-

In the arena, the anguish Heero couldn't help but feel from Quatre abruptly winked out. Heero was bound tightly enough to Quatre to know that he was still experiencing whatever it was, but he had employed his best ability to shield Heero from the worst of it. Probably at his own expense, if Heero was any judge of the Arab's usual tactics.

But there was no time for Heero to be annoyed with Quatre. He was busy watching a very tense stand-off between the remaining other three combatants.

"Karai." Leonardo's voice dripped with anger. "What are you doing here?"

"That is none of your business, Leonardo," she snapped. "I have the right to compete as did my father before me."

"Even so." Master Splinter's tail twitched with suppressed tension. "You will be held to the same honorable standards as us all. The Daimyo will not allow you to break his rules."

"I have no intention of cheating even against those I hate and despise such as yourselves. I intend to win this championship myself."

Heero looked her over with an appraising eye. He had watched her fight against Quatre and recognized her as a master who easily exceeded his own pure skill in hand-to-hand combat. If she viewed the turtles as enemies, Heero assumed that made her a threat to his team and his mission. Quatre had made it clear the turtles and their sensei were to be trusted. If this Karai became a problem, Heero would eliminate her without a second thought.

He might eliminate her anyway – she had hurt Quatre. Deeply.

But first, he would see how the movements of the battlefield, literal and figurative, played out.

A portal bloomed in the air before them. Gyoji appeared.

"Step forward and allow fate to decide your opponents for the fourth round."

Heero moved very slightly to one side to allow Karai to pass into the portal first, ensuring that one who was an enemy was not out of his direct line of sight. Karai clearly read the antagonism in the air and tossed her head, striding through the portal with a sneer. Leonardo and Master Splinter exchanged glances.

"If you get paired up against her, be careful," Leo warned. "She's mostly honorable when it suits her. But she's very dangerous."

Heero nodded shortly. "Understood." He decided to stop wasting time and stepped into the portal himself. When he emerged in one of the remaining halves of the arena, he turned quickly to see who would be his opponent.

Heero wasn't certain whether he was relieved or annoyed or even intrigued to find Leonardo looking back at him.

"This means Master Splinter will be fighting Karai," Leo said. "I hope he'll be alright."

"You should not disrespect him by doubting him. You can only focus on your own battle," Heero told him.

Leo smiled a little. "You're right, of course." He drew his blades once more and bowed. "I've been looking forward to this. I hope we can make it a good battle as allies, a true test of skill and strength."

Heero inclined his head. "Mission accepted."

On the other side of the thick divider, no such pleasantries were being exchanged. Splinter gazed impassively at his opponent for a moment before giving her a brief bow and settling into a stance.

Karai's lip was curled with distaste and she did not even return his courtesy. "I _should_ be fighting Leonardo."

"Defeat me and you may yet earn that right," Splinter said. And he sprang at her.

Above, the three other turtles and Usagi were clustered at the broad ledge that allowed them to overlook the arena from the medical area.

"What do you think?" Raph looked to Usagi.

"Heero-san is skilled, and he fights quite ferociously. But Leonardo is one of the finest warriors I have ever known. I do not believe that he can be beaten like this." Usagi's eyes trailed to the other fight. "Of Master Splinter…I would not like to speculate."

"He can beat her," Mikey said confidently.

But Don was shaking his head. "When he was younger, absolutely. But these last few years have been hard on him. And…that's assuming he _wants_ to beat her."

Raph looked at him, frowning. "Why wouldn't he?"

Don gave a little shrug, marveling at how good his side felt. _These healers must have some amazing concoctions at their disposal_. But Raph cleared his throat loudly and Donnie remembered he'd been asked a pointed question. He let out a breath.

"Well…because Karai is Leo's fight. She always has been. And our father knows that."

Raph grunted, but it took a brother to know that this grunt meant _I agree with you but your statement annoys me because I probably should have known that for myself_. He tried to watch both fights simultaneously, but he kept coming back again and again to Karai and Splinter.

"I wish we knew what that Shredder-wannabe was doing here," he said.

Below, Splinter was thinking something quite similar. Karai's attacks were as ruthless as ever, and though it had been some time since he had seen her fight, he was still surprised at how much she had added to her already deadly arsenal. Splinter's strength was in his ability to evade and anticipate, but even that was beginning to wear thin against her.

"Surrender, rodent!" Karai shouted as he just barely evaded a swipe by her katana.

"To you? Never. You may defeat me fairly, but I will never give in to you," Splinter vowed.

"Then I will see you fall as you should have years ago!"

Karai closed with him and began to concentrate her attack against his weaker leg – striking for the same spot Drako had permanently disfigured all those years before.

His cry of pain was echoed across the arena.

Leo grunted as he pushed himself upright. Heero's roundhouse kick had caught him in the jaw and it felt remarkably similar to being hit by Hun in spite of the extreme difference in size. He blinked at the cold, implacable set of Heero's eyes. He was beginning to understand why Heero had been referred to by the others as the 'perfect soldier.'

_But that's the difference between us_ , Leo realized even as he brought up his blades in a guard and struck out with his feet. _Heero is a soldier – it is his job, his duty, maybe his life. But I am a ninja – and it is my soul_.

And as that truth washed over him, Leo felt his spirit enter into true harmony with himself, his surroundings, the battle that had engaged him. He was the wind in the trees, the water in a stream. He _was_ the battle, the arena, the air and sky.

Even Heero's genetically-enhanced reflexes couldn't save him when Leonardo moved with the speed and power of a beam cannon and brought him down in a rush of almost unseen blows.

Flat on his back, Heero stared up at Leonardo standing above him. There was a purity in the turtle's stance, the essence of battle rolling off his shoulders like a cape. Heero smirked slightly and let his head drop to the ground. "Mission complete," he said with a contented feeling.

As Heero disappeared, the wall fell and revealed the full arena at last and Leonardo's final opponent – Karai.

"Your pathetic master has fallen, Leonardo," she taunted.

Leo spared a look up at the ledge that held the rest of his family. Sure enough, Master Splinter winked into existence there. To Leo's surprise – though maybe he shouldn't have been surprised anymore – the first to the rat's side was Heero himself, who carefully guided him to where the other turtles waited.

The Daimyo rose and stood over the arena. "The time for the Battle Nexus Championship round has begun. Strength and honor be with you both."

Leo glanced at Karai even as he bowed to the Daimyo. _Small chance of that_ , he thought wryly.

"It is as it should be," Karai said, beginning to circle Leo. "You and I, for all that is."

"You're not winning this thing, Karai," Leo said. The rush that had carried him to victory over Heero was still with him, and Leo could read more in Karai's motions than ever before. He could see her anger and her intent to win, but also a tension that had nothing to do with their battle. He frowned. "Whatever your game is, it's not going to work."

"Face me and let us see if that is the case!"

Leo nodded once, almost a bow but not quite. The crowd, whom Leo had entirely ignored up until now, began to roar.

And then he was sprinting and Karai was springing for him.

Their swords met with a clash like thunder.

Every battle between Karai and Leonardo before this moment paled in comparison. Leonardo moved with the speed of thought, his body perfectly attuned to his will as he became a force of motion and balance, an avatar of the delicate balance between the poetry of the art and the hardened power of the battle. He burned like fire and struck with the force of a hurricane, and yet his movements were almost delicate. Leonardo was fighting, as he had done only a few times in his life, not with body or mind or swords or strength; he had unleashed his very spirit, and it was his most powerful weapon.

Against him, Karai's masterful skill seemed coarse. Her attacks were vicious and relentless, but there was no grace in her. If Leonardo had surpassed combat to attain harmony, Karai had sunk to the brutal force of destruction and aggression without the enlightenment of balance. Karai had always fought with the same ardent passion and ruthlessness of her father, but now it shone as never before. She was as dark a shadow as Leonardo had become a light.

And it was her undoing.

With a scream of rage, Karai lifted her katana high to bring it down across Leonardo's unprotected head while the turtle was within reach. Her sword fell, and against any other opponent she would have earned victory.

But Leonardo spun with her strike, drawing momentum from his every move up until that point and putting it all into his counter-attack. There was a flash of blades.

And Karai's sword fell in pieces around her as Leonardo rested the flat of each of his own neatly crossed against her throat.

The stands erupted with cheering.

"He did it! He beat her!" Raph bellowed, punching the air in triumph. Beside him, Mikey had broken into a little jig and Donatello was only keeping still because he had taken over as Master Splinter's walking-stick the instant the healers had moved aside.

"It's not over."

Raph froze at the unexpected voice and he turned.

The five Gundams were standing together. Quatre was still looking a little strange, particularly around the eyes, and he had the fingers of one hand laced tightly with Trowa's. But his expression didn't waver and his words had been as tight and strong as the set of his shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Splinter turned to them.

It was Heero who spoke. "We're about to find out."

The nine of them were swept suddenly by the power of the Nexus to the Daimyo's feet where Leo was already bowing low. The roar of the crowd reverberated in the air, but there was something ominous there, too.

The Daimyo's voice rang across the arena. "Hamato Leonardo, son of champion Hamato Splinter and brother to champion Hamato Michelangelo, I declare you the final victor and champion of this Battle Nexus Tournament!"

The Daimyo lifted the crown of delicate filigree leaves and bent to rest it on Leonardo's head.

"Look out!" Quatre shouted.

The sky darkened and the black-clad ninjas from before fell from the sudden clouds like hail – hundreds of them. The cries of surprise and anger from the assembled crowd were drowned out to those at the Daimyo's platform by a high, thin, fearful cry from the palace.

An instant later, Karai appeared on the steps above them. Ue-sama hung struggling in her grip at his collar, bound with thick cord around his arms and chest. She held him high against her like a shield and he cringed away from her, wincing as she bellowed.

"Daimyo! You will surrender your War Staff to me or my men will kill your son and everyone gathered here!"

Before the Daimyo could formulate an answer, the turtles and Gundams had put themselves between him and Karai.

"Not a chance!" Leo shouted at her. "There's no way you're getting the War Staff!"

"Then the boy will die!" Her lips curled in victory.

"Level Zero," came Quatre's quiet voice. "For all but her. We need answers."

"You got it, Cattie." Duo grinned with a feral, dark light. The look he turned on Karai had sent lesser criminals fleeing and wetting themselves. "When we take the gloves off, you won't stand a chance."

"But my son…" The Daimyo was hesitating. He glanced to the War Staff that sat proudly propped within reach on its golden stand.

Beside him, Splinter caught his arm and shook his head. "No, my friend. You cannot surrender it. We will save the boy. You must defend the Nexus."

"I warn you one last time." Karai began to take a few steps forward, lifting her sword with the hand not hoisting the boy and resting the blade against his throat. "Surrender the War Staff to me or he will die."

To one side, Wufei drew his own sword and pointed it at her. "Woman, your dishonor will be punished. If you do not release the boy before the count of five, we will _destroy_ you." His face was set and hard. "Five."

The turtles began to brace themselves for a fight.

"Four."

Heero inched forward. "Three," he took up the count. "Two."

"Last chance!" Duo's grin was pure mania. "One."

Quatre's voice rang out. "Zero."

A gunshot roared.

Karai lurched to one side with a cry, blood spurting from one of her calves – the only clear shot available to Trowa from where he'd slipped, unseen, during the countdown. With her balance off, Ue-sama kicked out and managed to break her hold on his robes. He dropped to the ground, landing on his feet, and ran straight towards Leonardo.

"Kill them!" Karai screamed. "Get me that War Staff!"

The black-clad ninjas leaped into action, a wave breaking over the gathered warriors. Amidst the chaos, Leo found himself with his arms full of a small child.

"I got you," he said, swiftly cutting the cords that bound Ue-sama. "You're safe now. I'll protect you and your father."

Ue-sama nodded wordlessly and slid around behind Leo, flattening himself to the stout shell. Together, they started backing towards the Daimyo, Leo fending off the crowd without ever letting up his guard.

Chaos was everywhere. All the gathered warriors of the arena were fighting now, though the waves of the black-wearing ninja seemed unending. The crush of battle and bodies around Leo made it hard for him to swing his swords and he was reduced to pulling them in tightly. Guns roared around him and Leo knew the Gundams were eliminating the ninja as fast as they could; they were also keeping any of their enemies from getting too close to Ue-sama from behind. He watched as Heero hit three ninja each between the eyes without a pause.

After what seemed like forever, Leo sensed a gap between himself and where he knew the Daimyo was fighting his own battle against a horde of the ninja. He turned and scooped Ue-sama up, putting the boy on his shell like a backpack. "Hang on," he warned.

Leo bounded forward, finally free of the crowd enough to swing properly. He took out several of the ninja in a few swift blows. But the Daimyo was pinned beneath a dozen bodies, and even Master Splinter was being overwhelmed.

Leo glanced back to where his brothers were all fighting, Raph and Mikey shell-to-shell and Don swinging his bo to keep the crowd at bay. A single faltering move from any of them and they would be swamped. He couldn't spot all five of the Gundams who had vanished into the crowd, but he could track the gunshots and not a little yelling from them. And where was…

"Karai!" he shouted in sudden fear. The ninja surrounding the Daimyo and Master Splinter had forced enough of a margin between them that the War Staff was momentarily unprotected. Karai appeared in the gap and reached for it.

"Stop her!" Leo bellowed, forgetting the boy on his back, forgetting everything but keeping Karai from a power that could destroy _everything_.

"You are too late, Leonardo!" Karai grinned. "The War Staff is mine!"

Her hand closed on the Staff.

Lightning split the sky and a cold wind began to moan.

A shot rang out and Leo could see the bullet caught in midair, frozen in time inches from Karai's face. She glanced at it and then looked to Heero who kept his gun trained on her.

"Pitiful, worthless warriors. You will all suffer!"

She raised the War Staff and it began to glow and spark with a dark light.

The battle fell weirdly still as the air crackled with power. Leo didn't stop moving – though many of the ninja did – and found his brothers in the crowd. They, at least, were still standing. Splinter was being held by six ninja, and the Daimyo by more than twice that, his robes torn and his mask lost in the fray.

"What are we gonna do?" Raph demanded, watching in horror as the light and power built around the War Staff. Karai began to lift into the air, suspended in a halo of power.

"We can't let her use it!" Don's face was oddly pale in the dark light. "Who knows what she'll do?"

And then, from somewhere in the crowd of staring ninja, there came a shout. "Zero One, Zero Three, _now_!"

Heero and Trowa erupted from the crowd, Trowa having somehow gotten behind Karai. They leaped into the air and threw themselves at Karai. When they hit the halo of power, they were caught, suspended in a lightning storm that flashed and struck at them.

"Zero Two, Zero Five!"

And then Duo and Wufei were there, also in midair, diving in the same path Heero and Trowa had taken. But before they, too, were caught in the War Staff's torrent of power, everything changed.

From beneath Karai, Quatre jumped into the air. Unlike Heero and Trowa, he did not get caught up in the energy surrounding the War Staff. Instead, his pale hands penetrated it and he latched onto the very bottom of the Staff, gripping it with both hands.

The instant Quatre grabbed hold of the War Staff, the halo of energy around Karai winked out. Heero and Trowa started to fall, stunned, but Duo and Wufei were already in midair and caught them, bringing them safely to the ground.

Karai, still gripping the Staff herself, turned hateful eyes down upon Quatre. "What are you doing? How is this possible?"

Quatre's face was twisted with a fierce passion. " _No one shall face a Gundam and escape_."

The War Staff started to glow brightly. But this time, the light was warm and true.

Karai screamed as her hands on the Staff started to burn. She fought to hold on, but eventually the pain became too much and she was forced to let go. As soon as her hands released the Staff, the growing light blasted her halfway across the arena into the crowd.

"Quatre!" Leo yelled.

The Staff was still rising into the air, and still glowing. The turtles all remembered the dimensional void that was ripped the last time the wrong person held the War Staff, but that didn't seem to be what was happening. However, there was no explaining what power was gathering or why.

From the ground, the other four Gundams were back on their feet, eyes locked on their empath. Quatre's hair was almost white in the strange glow, and his body seemed to be jerking as though he were being electrocuted.

"Katoru!" Heero's voice echoed.

"Quatre! _Don't leave me_!" Trowa screamed.

There was a bright flash.

And then Quatre and the War Staff began to sink back to the ground, the light dimming and the strange power ebbing away. Quatre landed on his feet, both hands still wrapped around the neck of the Staff, his chest heaving.

No one moved.

Quatre lifted his head and started to step forward, carrying the staff in both hands like an offering. The ninja scattered away from him, though by now the Daimyo's guards had assembled themselves and the ninja ran right into their arms. The Daimyo himself got back to his feet, lending a hand to Splinter who nodded at him gratefully but never took his eyes off the blond Gundam slowly walking forward.

Quatre stopped before the Daimyo and held up the War Staff, his face unreadable and his eyes fixed on the Daimyo's face.

The Daimyo closed a hand around the Staff and both Daimyo and Quatre shuddered at the exchange. But Quatre released the Staff and stepped back.

The Daimyo hoisted the War Staff. At his command, every one of the enemy ninja was lifted into the air, bound by chains of power.

"You have committed your evil in the Nexus for the last time." The Daimyo's voice was loud and angry. "I hereby banish you and your people from this place for all eternity!"

The ninja vanished.

Then the Daimyo pointed the Staff at where Karai was just regaining consciousness. She, too, was pulled into the air, hanging suspended above the arena.

"You have lost all honor. I send you back to your own world and I bar you from ever opening the way to the Nexus again." The Daimyo glanced down at Splinter. "I am sorry, old friend."

"Karai has long been our enemy," Splinter told him. "She will remain ours to combat in our own world."

"Believe me, I will see you again soon! _Very_ soon!" Karai yelled.

The War Staff glowed and Karai disappeared.

Tucking the Staff against him, the Daimyo turned from the crowd and plucked his son from Leonardo's shell, pulling him into a hug. The Daimyo's guards began to disperse, moving through the assembled warriors and finding anyone who was injured to deliver them to the healers. From not far away, Usagi climbed to the high platform where the turtles were gathering around Master Splinter.

"Are you hurt, my friends?" he asked, looking worriedly at each turtle.

"Naw, nothing we couldn't handle." Raph spun one sai lazily.

Don rolled his eyes at him. "Yeah, 'cause of everybody here, _we're_ totally the heroes."

"Enough, my sons." Splinter regained his walking stick from where it had fallen and faced them. His whiskers twitched, but it was the only outward sign of any discomfort or pain he permitted to show. "It appears our long-time foe has again resigned us to the role of antagonist."

"Dude, what is _with_ that chick?" Mikey was rubbing a sore spot on one shoulder. "Geez!"

"The last time we saw her, we fought side-by-side," Leo said in a low voice. "She helped us defeat her own father. I know we've had our problems but…I thought…"

"Leo, Karai ain't never gonna be on our side. _Never_." Raph crossed his arms against his plastron. "Just because she isn't crazy enough to go along with the Shredder's destroy-the-multiverse plan, it don't mean she's a good guy. When are you gonna get that through your thick skull?"

"I know."

Splinter pinned his eldest son with a firm gaze. "One may have an honest opponent whose motives are sound but whom fate has aligned against us. For a time, Karai may have been this. But it is clear to me now that she is no longer honorable even as an enemy. She may be as dangerous as her father, perhaps moreso because we have failed to realize it until now."

Leo shook himself. "Well, when we get home, we're gonna have to see what she was up to here. She's never gone after power for no reason before. I think we need to find out why she wanted the War Staff."

"Other than it being so shiny?" Mikey asked with a grin.

Leo managed a small smile. "Yes, other than that."

"Speaking of which, how the shell did Quatre control the War Staff like that?" Donatello asked. "When Master Splinter tried to use it against Ultimate Drako, that was one thing. But this was…" He trailed off and looked around. "Where'd they go?"

The others glanced around as well. The Gundams were nowhere to be seen.

Usagi spoke up. "They were not here when I arrived. They must have left while the Daimyo was sentencing the ninja and Karai."

"Yeah, but why leave? And where'd they go?" Raph wanted to know.

Leo's mind latched onto the logical conclusion. "I think I know."

-==OOO==-

In the aftermath of the attack, with survivors being hustled to healers and villagers scattering aimlessly, the Gundams had no trouble avoiding attention as they returned to the room they had borrowed to retrieve their things. Though there was nothing in the packs they couldn't have left behind without a second thought, they were not in the habit of leaving anything in hostile territory, no matter how trivial.

Working mechanically and silently, they grabbed their packs and crept from the palace complex. In spite of the fact that they'd been in the Nexus for approximately one full day, between the five of them they had scouted it extensively, including several midnight reconnaissance runs when they'd changed the watch overnight, and so they knew how to keep from the more populated areas. In a matter of minutes, the Gundams were clear of the village and out in the Nexus wilds.

When they came to a defensible spot at the base of the nearest mountain, only then did they stop.

Setting the packs down, the five Gundams stood together in a circle facing outward. They inched close enough that they could touch one another, even if it was the only slightest brushing of a bare forearm to a hand, to open their connection through Quatre. This way, they could watch all directions for danger and still talk to one another in the most honest way they knew.

Quatre took a moment to settle into the link. The morning's training routine hadn't been the sort where the five came together as one in Quatre's empathy as they could do when the moment was right – they wouldn't dare attempt it where they might be interrupted, in danger, or watched. But it had joined them tightly together, able to read and anticipate one another without even needing to be within visual range. It had also helped keep everyone's battle reflexes in check; each of the Gundams had carried their guns into the day's tournament just in case, but as Duo had demonstrated, they could not use them. Being connected to one another had kept them from reverting behind their own inner walls and forgetting that the tournament was not a war.

While it had proved a liability when Quatre had been indisposed, it had also served them well during the ambush.

"Zero Four." Heero's voice was low and firm. "Report."

Quatre took a breath. "In the course of my battle with the person called Karai, I came into contact with her heart. What I experienced there was profoundly disturbing. It wasn't like ZERO. It was…pure evil."

He paused. It was Trowa who finished his thought. "Inhuman evil."

Quatre nodded, knowing they could feel it. "I have never encountered anything like that before. It was…"

"The word you're looking for," Duo offered, "is demonic."

"Normally I would say that is impossible, but we are in another dimension where time travel is possible, so I shall not assume anything at this point," Wufei said.

"But Karai is not a demon," Heero said. "The turtles would have said something."

"I know. But she carries something inside her anyway." Quatre huffed a breath. "Apparently I don't get along very well with that kind of evil."

Trowa laced their fingers together tightly. His heart still thudded with the powerful fear that had gripped him when he had seen Quatre rising into the air with the Staff, and only the warm, familiar connection between them was keeping him from wrapping himself around his beloved and hiding them both from the world.

"You handled yourself admirably given the circumstances," Wufei told him with a voice that was hard and a heart that was not.

Quatre sent him a tendril of gratitude and focused back on explaining. "You know how I knew she was planning something. And you know that I executed a plan hoping we'd be able to overwhelm her defenses and bring her down before she could use the Staff against our allies."

"Obviously," Heero said dryly.

"Tell us about the War Staff, Cat," Duo said, his voice soft. "What did it do to you?"

"It didn't hurt me," Quatre said. He was struggling for words, so he opened up his empathy a little more and fed them his feelings as well as his conclusions. "Donatello told me that the War Staff could interact with my empathy. I think he was partially correct, as I could clearly feel its presence and its impact. It is utterly unlike ZERO, but the effects on me were similar."

Around him, the Gundams understood.

"I had been able to force ZERO to bend to my will due to a similar connection, though for entirely different reasons. I thought maybe magic and technology wouldn't be too dissimilar and decided to try it."

Trowa's words flowed through them. "That's why you sent Heero and I in first. It wasn't just the acrobatics. It was the strength of our connection to you."

"Yes." Quatre nodded. "I thought I could weaken the Staff's defenses through you like static interference before I acted on it directly. And it worked."

Duo asked the question more than one of them were thinking, had been thinking. "Are you okay?"

Quatre let out a breath. "Yeah. I think so. I don't really understand everything that happened between me and the War Staff. But I feel okay and my gift is stable."

"Then we must decide on a new course of action," Wufei said. "Karai has been defeated here, so we have completed our mission in the Nexus. But…"

"But she's still a threat," Heero finished, his heart sounding with coldness.

"And you can't tell us you think she'll give up now that she's been defeated," Duo put in. "Now that she's failed once, she's a lot more likely to go nuclear the next time."

"There's something else," Trowa said quietly. "I don't think you think she was working alone."

Quatre and Heero both shook their heads.

"It's just a feeling," Quatre said.

"It's the most likely scenario," Heero added.

Within their connection, the other three could feel the echo of ZERO, which, though just a destroyed computer system, had left its fingerprints all over the thought-patterns of Heero and Quatre in particular – and sometimes those patterns reemerged when either of them was thinking through a difficult situation. Even if Heero and Quatre had both missed something, some connection or observation or implication, their ZERO thinking would be aware on a deeper level and would drive them towards the answer.

"We still have a threat to eliminate, then," Wufei decided. "We cannot protect the Earth Sphere if any of this leaks to our world. We have to eradicate the threat here and now before we put our own world at risk."

There was censure under his words and Quatre reddened slightly. Wufei was annoyed with Quatre for his direct interference, which might have drawn Karai's attention and thereby put their entire dimension in danger if she struck out for revenge. But he was also equally annoyed with himself for bringing them here at all and exposing them – and their world – to it in the first place.

"Then we need to go wherever Karai went and take her out. Think we can catch a ride with the turtles, then?" Duo asked.

"We can ask them," Quatre said quietly. "They're almost here."

The Gundams unfolded from their tight formation and stood in a line, waiting to greet their allies. The four turtles and Master Splinter emerged from the woods a few minutes later making no attempt to hide themselves.

"You guys trying to sneak out before the party?" Mikey asked with a grin. "But you'll miss the best part!"

"And what's that, doofus?" Raph looked askance at him.

"Watching Leo try to eat with that big trophy in his arms like a teddy bear!"

"Mikey." Donatello rolled his eyes. "Just because that's what _you_ tried to do…"

"For a week straight," Raph muttered.

But Leo was ignoring his brothers. He looked at the five faces before him. They gave almost nothing away, and that more than anything else told him what they had decided.

"You want to chase Karai down and see what she was up to, don't you?" he asked.

"Something like that," Heero acknowledged.

"That is our intention as well," Master Splinter said. "And if you wish to partake of our hospitality a bit longer, you would be welcome to join us in our home while we untangle this riddle."

"Road trip!" Mikey cheered.

The five Gundams made identical bows for once, arms down at their sides, backs straight. It was Quatre who said, "Thank you for your kindness. We will certainly accept help from you in reaching your home dimension."

He was about to refuse to stay in their space when he caught Donatello looking at him intently. Curious, Quatre read the turtle. Absorbing what he found there, he changed his decision, silently relaying it to the others between one heartbeat and the next.

"We have little to offer you as guests," he said, "so it is my hope we will find some way to repay you for providing us with a secure place when we are so far from home."

"One request, though." Raph held up a finger, happily ignoring the questioning or outright annoyed glares from the rest of his family.

"What's that?" Duo asked.

"You gotta come back long enough to see Fearless get that crown for real this time."

But Wufei shook his head. "That is impossible. Please accept our apologies, and extend them to the Daimyo as well, if you would." He bowed to Leo specifically. "Congratulations on your triumph. We will wait here until you are ready to go."

The turtles shrugged at each other and turned to head back down to the village. When they thought they were out of earshot, Raph scrubbed a hand over his head. "Man, I don't think I'll _ever_ understand those guys!"

Donatello added a few new pieces of data to his working hypothesis. The evidence was mounting.

"Don?" Leo knew that contemplative look. "Something on your mind?"

"I don't know that I totally understand them yet, either." He shook his head, "but I think I'm starting to."

"As am I, my son," Splinter said.

"Then what is it, sensei?" Raph wanted to know.

"Let us not speak of it until our friends trust in us." Master Splinter held up a hand. "For if I am correct, that earned trust will be stronger by tenfold if we allow them to come to it on their own."

Mikey's expression, and his shoulders, drooped. "So, never then."

"You think so?" Leo asked.

"You don't?" Raph was surprised.

"I think they're closer to trusting us than they want us to know," Leo replied, and noted Don nodding at him. "I think it's themselves they don't trust."

Far behind them, too far to overhear but not too far for Quatre's empathy to pick up the conversation with such clarity he could almost make out their words, he nodded to himself. He hadn't linked this awareness to the rest of the Gundams who were making their position a little more fortified – after the events of the attack, they were in no hurry to rush back into an area crowded with warriors who might have questions they did not want to answer – so his insight was his alone.

_Keep up that keen perception and soon we won't have many secrets left from you. Allah knows I'm struggling to keep my own_. He glanced guiltily at Trowa and quickly hid the flush of emotion before it could reach his husband. Trowa had been terrified once already today; Quatre could not stand to worry him again so soon.

_They'll be angry with me when they find out, and I know they will discover it eventually. But if I tell them now, there's no way of knowing how many lives could be at risk. I have to let this play out, no matter what the consequences. Even if I lose everything in the end because of it_.

And somehow, Quatre feared that he very well might.


	7. Instead of Voices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm late again. I'm so sorry! I guess...at least I'm consistent?
> 
> Donatello references something in this chapter that sounds a lot like ZERO go a Gundam audience, but isn't. It's from a series of episodes called "Space Invaders" from the start of season 3. The whole series is worth a watch, but the second episode of that set, well, it's a lot like the ZERO in The Silken Cord and not the "friendly" version Quatre actually mastered.
> 
> Anyway.
> 
> Enjoy!

"All right, that's _it_!" Raph roared. He stalked out of the dojo and charged down the hallway towards the main room.

"Get back here, Raphael!" Leo shouted after him.

"There is _no way_ I'm spending one more minute in there with you right now unless I get to kick your shell across the room!"

"Honestly, dude?" Mikey appeared at Leo's elbow. "I'm with him. Seriously." And he followed his brother.

Leonardo was forced to trail after his two brothers a little belatedly. "Look, I know we're all frustrated, but…"

" _You're_ frustrated, and _they're_ frustrated." Raph pointed angrily to Leo, then to the small crowd in Donnie's lab. "But you don't gotta make the _rest_ of us miserable!"

"Training is important, Raph!" Leo shot back, his ire rising. "Especially now."

"Dude, even Master Splinter said you should take a break," Mikey offered as he sauntered towards the kitchen area. "When sensei thinks you're overdoing it, I mean, shouldn't that be a sign or something?"

"They have a point."

Leo glanced upwards for the source of the voice. Trowa was leaning against the railing on the second level outside the room the Gundams had used as their own for the last several days. His eyes were fixed on Leo, even though he presented an overall unconcerned countenance.

"The life of a soldier involves a lot of waiting," Trowa continued. "If you spend all your waiting time exhausting yourself, you will be weak when the battle actually begins."

Leo bristled at that. "I'm not exhausting us. I'm just trying to keep us sharp."

"Well…" Quatre emerged from the room and joined Trowa at the rail. He looked down with a small smirk. "There are other ways to do that."

"How are you feeling?" Leo asked first.

Quatre shrugged. "I'm fine."

Leo didn't entirely believe him. When the five Gundams had passed through the doorway between the Nexus and their own lair, Leo had noticed them holding onto one another fiercely as if afraid to be separated. Then, the instant they emerged in the lair, Quatre's face had gone dark red, then pale. Wufei had explained it had something to do with his empathy adjusting to the sheer number of people in the surrounding area, and that he would be fine after the adjustment.

But even so, the friendliest member of the Gundam team had been oddly quiet and withdrawn for the last three days, spending a great deal of time alone with his thoughts.

On the other hand, the turtles had seen very little of Heero or Duo, either, though for entirely different reasons. They had basically locked themselves in Donatello's lab and combined forces with the resident turtle genius. After four hours of hearing Duo and Heero exclaim in surprise or dismay over the computer technology of the world – which, considering Donatello had a setup to rival the Utroms, well beyond anything in use by normal people, said a lot about what the pilots were used to – the pair had dived into not only turning the Foot systems upside down and pulling them apart, but had also started reinforcing Donatello's own network.

The residents of the lair got used to walking by the open door to Donnie's lab and hearing things like, "I can't believe they don't even have a rotating frequency sequencer on the firewall!" or "If that Foot security was a shuttle, it would be nothing but two wheels and some cardboard for the wings!" which would be followed by rapid-fire computer gibberish that wasn't worth the headache to try to translate.

The turtles learned that Trowa and Wufei and Quatre were also competent hackers in their own rights, but that Heero and Duo were the universally acknowledged masters. So while they worked their computer magic with Don, Wufei and Trowa had kept themselves busy in other ways. Wufei spent many hours with Master Splinter behind closed doors, sometimes joined by both Trowa and Quatre. Trowa also took it upon himself to scout the city, mostly with Wufei and once or twice with Quatre or Heero or Duo in tow, learning not only the layout and immediate surroundings, but also getting a sense for the society and culture.

So, while the Gundams had been keeping rather busy, Leonardo had felt like his own family was failing to live up to their standards. All five Gundams were so focused, so intent on their mission. Barely a handful of minutes passed where four of the five weren't totally consumed with their mission (excepting the meditation sessions with Master Splinter). The only exception was Quatre, who seemed to do the least in terms of active work, but Leo knew the look of a strategist when he saw one, and he knew Quatre was mentally preparing himself to lead his team into battle.

The least the turtles could do would be to train hard to ensure they would be in the best possible shape to join them.

Quatre stretched almost casually. But Leo was getting used to the five of them now, and he could see the slight speculation that passed between Quatre and Trowa.

"What did you have in mind?" Trowa asked Quatre almost too easily.

Wufei emerged from where he had been taking tea with Master Splinter, arriving behind Leo unexpectedly. "Idleness in the midst of a war can be to one's detriment if it is not handled correctly," he said as he edged around the turtles to where he could look up at Quatre and Trowa. "We have been idle too long."

Quatre nodded. "I think so, too."

Trowa smiled lazily, then tipped forward. His lanky body flipped out from the railing easily, like a yo-yo uncurling. He dropped to the ground and met Wufei's eyes. "Not all of us."

Above, Quatre rolled his eyes. "Show off!" He started down the stairs, shaking his head.

"Who's showing off?" came Duo's voice. In the doorway to Don's lab, the braided pilot was peeking his head out with a grin. "Can I come?"

"Sure," Trowa told him. "Quatre believes we need a diversion."

"Oh, Cattie, you are _so_ right about that." Duo bounced into the main area. "If I have to listen to Heero's teeth grind for another minute, I might be tempted to glue them shut or something, and then we really wouldn't ever get him to say anything other than 'Hn' at me!"

Heero emerged. He did not smile, but there was light in his intense eyes. "Hn."

"See!"

"Are we taking a break?" Donnie asked, blinking the spots from too many hours at a computer from his vision.

"Yeah, we definitely are," Raph agreed, nudging his brother in greeting. "'Cause if Leo wants me to go another round, I'm probably going to put my sai where the sun don't shine."

Don winced sympathetically. He'd been spared the Fearless Leader's obsessive training of the last few days, but he knew how that went. Honestly, he was more surprised Raph had lasted three whole days before rebelling. Normally, Raph's patience wore out in a matter of hours. _He must be worried about Karai, too_ , Don thought to himself.

"Well, if you tire of fighting one another," Wufei said with an arched eyebrow, "we could attempt to give you a battle of your own."

"We'll even leave our guns here," Duo offered, reaching into the fold at the back of his shirt and withdrawing the one he kept there.

Raph nodded. He wasn't surprised the Gundams were still armed to the teeth while in the lair. After all, Raph was, and he lived here.

"Four on five?" Mikey asked. "Bring it on, G-boys!"

"Quatre." Trowa smiled softly. "You need something."

"Not really." Quatre shook his head. But as Trowa continued to look at him steadily, he sighed. "Oh, all right. They make a lot more sense when you're actually in the _desert_ , though, you know." From a deep pocket, Quatre drew a pair of goggles which he donned, leaving them balanced on the crown of his head rather than pulling them down over his eyes.

"Going swimming?" Don asked.

"No. They're…sort of a symbol of the other group I lead back home. I wear them whenever I'm in command." Quatre's face colored slightly. "Trowa likes reminding me about them."

"They're proof of your strength and wisdom," Heero said. "Proof that you are a capable and trusted leader. We all know this – but you need the reminder sometimes."

Quatre glanced at Don with a look of understanding and Don huffed a small laugh. _Yeah, I know exactly where you're coming from, Quatre_ , he thought. _Overprotective brothers, huh?_

"Are we going to do this or what?" Mikey wanted to know.

The Gundams exchanged glances. Then Duo grinned and even Wufei and Trowa looked interested. Heero nodded as he unclipped two guns from his person and set them beside Duo's. "Yes. Let's go."

The nine of them made their way into the dojo.

"It ain't gonna end like it did in the Nexus, Yuy," Raph warned.

"Are you so certain?" he replied.

"Yeah I'm certain! I'm gonna kick your shell from here back to wherever you guys came from!"

"We don't have shells," Wufei informed him dryly.

In the dojo, Leo moved over to the side away from the weights and other possible obstacles to an open fight, his brothers falling in with him. He largely tuned out the traded insults between Duo, Raph, and Mikey, with Wufei and even Trowa adding their own input at times. Of course, they didn't really need to help Duo defend himself – Mikey was irritating Raph as much as he was Duo.

Leo glanced at Don, who traded a small smile with Quatre. This could go on for a while.

"When I'm through with you, you're gonna be eating that braid for lunch!" Raph threatened.

"Bad idea." Duo shook his head, face gleeful. "I keep some of my best stuff in there! And you wouldn't like a few of my toys."

"He's serious," Heero said. "Don't touch the braid. Depending on what he's stocked in there, it could be ugly."

"Hey, I took out the explosives this time!"

"You keep explosives…in your _hair_?" Don was aghast. "I can't even keep them in my _workshop_!" He glared at two of his brothers. " _Some_ turtles can't be trusted with dangerous chemicals in easy to access places."

"I am not surprised that you must treat your materials as you would in the presence of children," Wufei sneered. But, in spite of the words, there was a tiny smile fighting at the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, enough talking," Leo said. "Let's get down to what we came here to do."

"So, what are the rules?" Trowa asked, moving from where he'd been leaning.

"Well, no bloodshed obviously," Leo said. "But using weaponry is okay."

"Tactics?" Heero asked.

Raph shrugged. "Whatever you want to do's probably fine. This ain't a nice formal match. This is the best you got." Then he glared at Heero. "Except no more pulling stunts where you make me go off-balance or risk killing you. That one's out. Anything else is okay."

"Oh." Duo smiled creepily, "I think we can live with that."

"Until one team leader surrenders, then," Wufei added.

"That'll be Fearless for us." Mikey poked Leo in the side. "What about you guys?"

The five Gundams didn't even look around at each other to debate it. Heero just gave a sharp nod. "Me."

"All right. Do you guys want a minute to come up with a strategy?" Leo glanced at his brothers who all gave him little smiles. They didn't need any time – they knew what they would do. All four had already assessed the Gundams and their fighting strengths and weaknesses. The turtles might be slightly outnumbered, but they knew how to make that disadvantage work for them.

"No, thank you." Quatre smiled a little too sweetly. "We're ready." He snapped his goggles into place.

"But you don't even have any melee weapons on you other than Wufei's dao," Don pointed out. "You could take something from the rack."

"Don't worry about us." Duo grinned. "We'll make do."

"All right." Leonardo moved into position at the far end of the mat, his brothers ranged beside him. The Gundams faced him evenly. They all bowed to one another.

"Begin!"

The instant the word left Leo's mouth, the turtles charged. They had figured the more aggressive Gundams would attack head-on, so they wanted to meet them halfway. The Gundams seemed not to have expected that and instead scattered. Leo, unsurprisingly, found himself paired with Wufei. Duo was engaging Raph, Donnie was up against Trowa, and Mikey was spinning his nunchaku uncertainly against Quatre. Where...?

Wufei didn't give Leo time to think, instead slicing expertly at him with the gleaming dao. Leo met the sword with a defense of his own and fell into an easy rhythm with the Chinese sword-master from another world. Still, no mater how stimulating his own fight, he kept an eye on his brothers. Don's bo gave him no advantage over Trowa, whose acrobatics kept him easily out of reach. Raph had charged Duo as recklessly as ever, and the braided youth was spouting taunts that had the hotheaded turtle seeing red for sure from the set of his scowl and his shouting retorts.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you," Mikey was saying, still holding back. "These things pack a punch."

"I know." Quatre smiled, ducking a half-hearted blow and striking with a side kick that caught Mikey's unprotected side. "So do I."

The pair began trading blows more evenly. Leo refocused on Wufei to jab for his knee, impressed with the swift block that turned one blade away while meeting the other. But something still bothered him, so he called out.

"Where's Heero?"

At that, his brothers all began searching for the one missing pilot, and Raph almost handed his match to Duo with his inattention, but a quick dodge just saved him an embarrassing fall.

"I don't know!" Don called back.

"You guys can't surrender without your leader!" Mikey smiled as he knocked Quatre down. The blond had to roll quickly to evade another strike before he got back to his feet. A few yards away, Raph managed to get Duo with his back to the wall, well out of range of the others.

Leo became aware of something in Wufei's face, though he couldn't put his finger on it. His expression wasn't quite like when they'd seen him train before. It was almost like...

And then Heero appeared at the door to the dojo.

Leo saw him moving fast and shouted a warning, shifting his position so he could engage Heero while still fighting Wufei, but Heero ignored him. Instead, he dodged to one side.

"Mikey!"

Leo practically threw Wufei off him at Don's cry, buying himself a bit of space to turn. He could see that Mikey had frozen in place, and that Quatre had clamped a hand around the youngest turtle's wrist.

"Let 'im go!" Raph was bellowing, turning from Duo and charging the blond.

Three blurs flew through the air.

Leo couldn't help it – he paused as he watched. Trowa had actually jumped up on the end of Don's bo, snatching a flashing something out of the air. Poised on the end of the staff, he smoothly leveled a gun at Donatello's face.

"Stop." The coldness of the order literally halted Raph in his tracks as he found himself face-to-gun with Heero, the blue eyes meeting his like a lightning strike.

"I gotcha, Cat," Duo said, and now Leo realized Heero had tossed three guns in the air, one of which Trowa had grabbed, and one Duo now had trained on Michelangelo. "Let him go."

"It's over," Wufei said softly. Leo looked at where the dao was resting just above his shoulder, its blade not far from his neck. But Leo's own katanas were still up, and he could still block...

"Don't," came Quatre's voice with a flat, piercing tone. "Don't, Leonardo." That was when Leo realized that Quatre had caught the third gun and had it trained on Leo himself. He was backing away from Mikey, who was shaking his head dazedly.

"It's over," Heero repeated what Wufei had said. "If you move, Quatre will shoot. If Michelangelo attacks, Duo will fire. If Raph moves, I have him covered. Trowa has Donatello. If two of you move at the same time, Wufei will disable you, and Quatre will shift targets while Trowa re-positions himself."

Leo had drawn the same conclusions already, as had Donatello from the look on his face. Raph was still twirling each sai angrily, and it would take more than Heero's pronouncement to get him to back off. But it was the last brother Leo rested his eyes on. "Mikey? You okay?"

"Yeah." Michelangelo ran one hand over his domed head, then gave a thumbs-up. "No prob. But I think Hee-chan's got a point, dude."

"What did he do to you?" Raph growled, his menacing expression shifting from Heero to Quatre.

"He didn't hurt him." That was Trowa, who had stepped off Don's bo as soon as the turtle's arms had started to fatigue. "He just held him."

"Think of it as a psychic sedative," Quatre confirmed. "I didn't project anything or tamper with his heart at all. I just gave his mind a simple order to stop and it shut him down. I would never enter the emotions of another without permission."

Raphael still looked very, very dubious, but he huffed and Leo knew that to be resignation. He slowly lowered his katana. "We surrender."

"That was the only way, wasn't it?" Don said, sheathing his bo and crossing his arms. "You changed the situation. You knew we wouldn't be able to defend against you and your guns with one down."

"Well, and that's our preferred method of handling a situation." Duo shrugged. "We can all fight, but shooting is what we do best. Mobile suits or guns, if it fires, we fire it."

"You four are superior to us in martial arts overall." Wufei slid his dao home. "It was not a fair fight to begin with, and you knew that. Otherwise you would have forbidden the tactic Quatre used in addition to that which won Heero's round against Raphael."

"We never expected..." Raph protested.

"I did." Leo shook his head. "He's right. I knew Quatre might use his empathy on us." He smiled a little. "I was curious to see if you would."

"If Quatre ever unleashes his true potential against you, you will not escape so easily," Heero said. "But he won't."

"Never to an ally. _Never_." Quatre actually shuddered as he said it.

"And you came up with that just by, what, coincidence?" Don asked, curious.

"Nah." Duo folded his hands behind his head. "We've done this one before. Four on four while Perfect Soldier over there takes the distraction and gets our stuff back. Way easier when we don't have to wait for him to break into a weapons locker and take out half the base or something. He just had to go out to the other room and come back and it was goodnight."

Leo glanced at Quatre. "Why weren't you the leader?" He tipped his head towards the goggles the blond had returned to their perch on his head.

Trowa smirked slightly. "You'd have been expecting that. We did not intend to allow you to anticipate us."

"Yeah, I guess you managed that okay. But, if we'd had a fair fight, we'd have beat you!" Mikey said cheerfully. "So we'll call it a tie."

"No we won't." Wufei frowned. "We defeated you honorably under the terms you set. We will call it that."

"It was a good battle," Heero said. "You fight with heart and courage and strength."

"Yeah? Then how about a rematch, just you and me?" Raph asked.

But Heero shook his head. "Another time. I still have work to do." And he turned to leave.

Duo shrugged. "I guess that's my cue, too. Sorry guys!"

The turtles turned to Donatello curiously, but he didn't move. Instead, he cleared his throat a little awkwardly. "Uh, Quatre? You got a minute?"

Quatre glanced to Trowa and Wufei. Wufei waved dismissively. "We will continue to scout the area around the current headquarters of the Foot. Do as you like." Trowa nodded, but winked at Quatre.

"I guess I do. What'd you have in mind?"

Don glanced around. "Let's go topside for a little while. Easier to talk."

"Don." Leo moved to stop him. "You need to be careful."

"We'll be fine," Don told him. "And you could do some patrolling if you want to make sure."

"Now, _that_ I could get behind," Raph agreed. "I'm sure there's some skulls out there that need a good bashing."

"Last one to the surface does dishes for a week!" Mikey cheered, bolting from the dojo for the main door.

Raph and Leo were on his heels but Donatello held back while Quatre exchanged a look with Wufei. "Sure about this?"

"Winner, you worry too much," Wufei told him. "We have a mission. It's time we finished preparing for it and actually began our offensive."

Quatre nodded. "Just take care of each other."

"If there was ever a more _useless_ statement…" Wufei rolled his eyes, striding out.

Don didn't mean to spy, but he saw Quatre and Trowa hold hands for a moment, saw the looks in their eyes, and a second hypothesis moved from probable to almost certainty.

-==OOO==-

In the warm air of the falling dusk, Donatello glanced at Quatre. He'd been so caught up in his computer work with the other two, he hadn't been out patrolling with any of the Gundams so far. Raph had told him, though, during a quick moment over breakfast (or was it dinner the night before?) that when they were on the surface, the Gundams had blended into the surroundings as if born to the city. Even Trowa's outlandishly long hair or Wufei's permanent scowl had faded into the background of New York, an oddity among so many odder oddities that they weren't worth a second look. Quatre might have gone out of his way to earn a few more smiles, but he, too, slid into and out of the press of humanity with ease. Except, in the case of Quatre, he seemed deeply pleased by what the others took for granted.

"Where do you want to go?" Quatre asked politely, eyes hungrily taking in the skyline.

Don shrugged. "Right here's fine." The old brick building situated above the lair was higher than most of its nearest neighbors and had a rooftop garden that provided lots of cover and shadows.

Quatre nodded and moved to sit at the edge of the bed of tomato plants. He leaned back against a nearby wheelbarrow. But his eyes never moved from the city around him.

"You really like it here, don't you?" Don asked.

Quatre smiled. "Yes. The Earth is always so alive, so full of mystery. When you spend your life on a colony in space, you forget about things like wind or moonlight."

"Don't you spend any time on earth?" Don wanted to know, sitting beside him.

"Sure, but I'm usually working. The only time I get away is when I'm out somewhere without people." At Don's frown, Quatre explained, "I'm…very well-known back home. I hold an extremely public position in my family's corporation."

This made Don smile. "So, in other words, you live like we do. You spend your life in a closed area that you've made as nice as you could, but it still isn't being outside. And you have to make sure nobody sees you when you do venture outside or risk getting way too much attention."

"Basically, yes." Quatre was amused. "With intermittent battles to save the world, of course."

"Oh, obviously," Don replied.

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments until Don realized Quatre was waiting for him to speak.

"It's not a big deal," Donnie said finally. "It's just…I didn't want to say anything in front of the others."

Quatre inclined his head, listening.

"Well, okay. Uh, so." Don was struggling to remember why this was a good idea. He forged ahead. "You and Trowa are…?"

Quatre's smile went soft and warm.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Does it bother you?"

Donnie actually chuckled. "You're asking the mutant turtle if two guys in love is weird?"

"I guess so." Quatre's smile was cautious but still warm.

Don shook his head. "No. We've been so many places, met so many different kinds of peoples – aliens and beings from other dimensions and demons and even intelligent life that evolved here on our own planet under our noses – life is too strangely diverse for one more option to bother me." He paused, then added, "Or my family. You don't have to hide it from us."

"We thought it was best to be cautious. At first, in the Nexus, we didn't know how it would be received and we also didn't want to give away some information that could be used against us later," Quatre explained. "Then…well, partially it's just habit, like how you and your family tend to stay to shadows even in the Nexus."

Don nodded. "I figured. So I thought I'd let you know."

"Thank you." Quatre's eyes went back to the horizon. "In our own world, Trowa and I can't walk down the street together. Well, I mean, we could. But it might not be worth the cost. The scrutiny. The public interest." He sighed. "Trowa's very private. He doesn't need a lifetime of cameras in his face demanding he speak to them."

Don nodded. "We got just a glimpse of that in the future. I imagine it would be hard on the both of you."

Then Donatello took a deep breath and launched into his original hypothesis. "But it wouldn't just be hard on _you_ , would it? It would be hard on all five of the Gundams."

The change that came over Quatre's expression struck like lightning. One moment gentle and slightly sorrowful and still warm, in an instant his face was set and cold and steely.

"What do you mean." It was barely even a question.

Don wanted to backtrack, but there was nowhere to go having already begun. "It's just…I can tell. There were lots of clues. How the others reacted when whatever happened with you and Karai. How you all can plan and make decisions without discussing it – and sometimes without all of you even looking at one another. How you always know where everyone is."

Quatre was still looking at him coldly steadily.

Don kept going. "I reasoned that if your empathy gave you the ability to read the emotions and intentions of other with anything like the accuracy and clarity you'd already displayed, it might give you something else. My father is a little that way – he gets bad feelings, and he's almost always right. And…" Here he lowered his voice. "There was a time my mind was under attack by a computer system."

Quatre twitched, but Don was almost too busy relating it to notice. Almost.

"They were ripping my memories out of me, trying to find a friend of ours so they could capture him and use him to hurt people. And I managed to reach for Master Splinter with my thoughts. We've all meditated together and such for so long, it…I believe it formed a very, very basic link between us. Like how Leo always knows where to be to save one of us, or how we all knew none of us were dead one time we got split up by Karai and her goons. And watching you and the other five, you have something like it, but a lot stronger."

"Then why tell me about it?" Quatre asked without any inflection.

"I don't know why you didn't want to be honest with us about it. I don't know what you think you have to hide from us. But you don't. Okay? You don't have to keep things like this from us." Don looked away. "There aren't many people we really trust. But you're here. You said I was your friend. You can trust us with this, too."

Quatre let out a long breath and let his eyes fall closed. When he spoke, it was as though he were talking to himself and not Donatello at all.

"If we couldn't trust you, we wouldn't have stayed with you. Heero and Duo wouldn't have done as much as they have to reinforce your security. Wufei wouldn't have settled into long conversations with Master Splinter. Well, maybe he would – I think your sensei reminds Wufei of home, and that's rare comfort for him. Anyway. We know what you are, Donatello. We know your family.

"But we…as much as we like anyone…we're alone."

His head came up and his eyes seemed wider than usual. Sadder.

"In our world, there isn't a person alive who didn't have a sibling or a parent or a child or a friend or a cousin or a spouse killed in a Gundam attack. Killed by _us_. We were fighting for peace, but we were fighting a war. We have more blood on our hands than you can imagine.

"We can't fully belong to a world we caused so much pain. Even the people we trust, even the ones we love, we're still alone. We still have to face the world from a different path than everyone else, making choices no one else can or wants to make. We're still all we have."

He took a breath. "We haven't always been connected the way we are. It's sort of a recent development. And it's changed things none of us could ever have expected. Changed for the better, we think. But…"

Don put a hand on his shoulder. "What is it, Quatre?"

"Well, it's just another way we're set apart, you know? We all have the same nightmares – we always did, I guess. We all fought in a war for peace, so that innocent people could have normal lives. And…none of us can. We're too connected now. When any one of us sees a news article about those horrible Gundam pilots and all the people they killed, it hurts all of us. When one of us starts to get close to someone else, at some point either that person has to be brought into the secret with all of us or they have to be pushed away. Because not one of us can keep a relationship the others can't also maintain.

"Somehow, being connected has brought us closer together, and has pushed the rest of the world farther away."

Donatello considered that. He understood being different, set apart in the world – he understood that all too well. But he was still himself. He could still go down to his lab for days and dive into a project. His brothers' lives weren't impacted by that choice, not the same way. He tried to imagine how it would work if only he was friends with April, for example. If the rest of his family had to exercise veto power over that friendship, or participate in it, no matter how much they liked or didn't like it.

Don seized onto a strange possibility from their previous conversation. "Quatre – how much of this is _your_ guilt as opposed to what the others feel?"

His phone suddenly pinged. Don looked at the text message in surprise.

_Most of it. The rest of us maintain the secret purely for strategic purposes in hostile territory. There is no other reason. – HY_

Quatre didn't look at the phone to read it, but he huffed a laugh anyway. "Heero. You can't just…"

Another text on Don's phone. _Yes I can. Stop it or I'm recalling Trowa_.

Don smiled at Quatre. "So, basically, you feel bad because the connection between the five of you…what? Precludes the others from finding what you have with Trowa?"

Quatre looked away. "It's not funny."

"No, it isn't." But Don was still feeling pretty smug for figuring it out.

"I created this link. It's not universal – it only goes from me out to the others. So if Duo or Heero or Wufei ever wanted to fall in love or have lives of their own, they can't ever get away from me. Even if they wanted it more than anything. We're stuck together." Quatre's head drooped. "We're not alone, and I can't be grateful for that when it also limits our options."

"And who said I wanted any of those stupid options anyway?"

Don was surprised, but Quatre didn't even flinch when Duo dropped down beside them. He nodded at Donatello. "Sorry. Heero said he needed somebody to smack some sense into him and Chang's not here."

Don gestured. "By all means."

Duo focused on his best friend. "A year ago, you were so glad to be connected. And I was the one being stupid about it. Why can't you still be glad?"

Quatre didn't look at him. "Duo…I did it without your permission. And…I can't shut it off. It's growing."

"I know that."

Now Quatre was surprised. "You do?"

"Of course. We all do. Wuggles said it was something like a virus. Like that the more we were exposed to it, the more of it would build up in our systems. And at some point, it'll be enough that we'll replicate it ourselves. Probably not your empathy, but the connections between us."

Quatre groaned.

Duo shook his head and shifted position, getting in front of Quatre and crouching until their eyes met. "Now you listen good, Cattie. You gave me something I didn't know people like me could get. You gave me something worth keeping. You gave me a _family_. That is _way_ more important to me than anything else ever could be."

Quatre's eyes were beginning to look wet. "But you deserve so much more. You deserve…"

"Technically," Duo's voice was flippant, "I deserve to be executed by military tribunal. We all do." He winked. "Good thing we don't get what we deserve."

"Duo!"

"Quatre!" Duo repeated in the same tone.

"Wufei couldn't even go to the Nexus without us because of it. And when I fought Karai, it put all of you at risk. It's not just that it's keeping you from living your own life in peace. It's dangerous!"

"Okay," Duo said, calm and even. "Make you a deal. If you can look me in the eyes, bond all the way open, and tell me you aren't grateful that I'm there in your heart beside you, I'll let you off the hook."

He stared intently at Quatre, who met his gaze. But after a moment, Quatre shook his head. "I can't," he whispered. "Allah help me, I can't."

"Because you love having me where you can hear me. Where you can communicate with me."

Quatre nodded miserably.

"Okay, genius. And you're surprised we feel the same way?"

Quatre managed a slight smile. "Every single day, Duo. Every single day."

"Well, just ask me and I'll tell you. Maybe if we make this a daily ritual it won't get so bad next time, huh?" Duo flopped beside Quatre and leaned against him with a grin. "You worry about all the wrong things, buddy."

Don's phone beeped. _Yes, he does. Good work, Duo_.

"How is he doing this?" Don asked. "He's not listening to us through Quatre's empathy, is he?"

"Nope." Duo shook his head even as he was ruffling Quatre's hair. "Heero decided to extend your sensor net into the security systems of the buildings for however-many square miles or something. You've actually taken over half the security systems in the city by now, I think."

"There are no speakers on a rooftop surveillance camera on a building like this," Don argued.

His phone pinged. _There are now_.

"See that?" Duo asked. "That's life with the Perfect Soldier looking over your shoulder."

Quatre finally smiled. "Actually." He glanced at Don. "That's a really good sign."

"Is it?" Don asked.

Quatre nodded. "Yes. It means Heero likes you and your family and wants to protect you."

But then his smile faded and he looked up. Duo was already getting to his feet, his face growing serious.

"What is it?" Donnie asked.

"Trouble." Quatre rose as well, automatically checking for the two guns he'd brought with him. "Heero's on his way up, and then we'll need to move fast. According to Trowa and Wufei, your brothers need help."

-==OOO==-

Don raced over the rooftops, keeping the three Gundams within his field of vision. It made something in his chest ache to have to slow down to their speed – not that they weren't outrunning just about every human Don had ever seen, the bizarrely super-human Agent Bishop included. Heero, Duo, and Quatre were flying along at Don's side, all three silent and focused.

Oh, and armed. Definitely armed. Heero had arrived at the surface to meet them with a bag slung over his shoulders, and before Don could even complain about the delay he had tossed similar bags each to Quatre and Duo. All three wore close-fitting backpacks, and Don had spotted them pulling out guns while in mid-sprint, checking them, and stowing them with a mechanical sort of familiarity. Don had stopped counting when Heero was checking his sixth gun.

Quatre was in the lead, following the urgent signal only he could sense. Don's heart fell with every block that carried them closer to the Foot stronghold.

Into the silence interrupted only by feet hitting the roofs and the occasional grunt of effort, Heero's voice cut like a knife. "Status, Zero Four. Verbal."

Quatre nodded sharply. "Zero Three and Zero Five and our allies have closed with innumerable enemy." He paused. "Zero Five isn't giving me a numerical figure. The situation is shifting too rapidly for him to transmit."

"Understood," Heero said.

"Karai has not yet appeared," Quatre added. "Zero Three thinks it's a trap."

"We going Level Zero here?" Duo asked, barely winded.

Don caught a sudden coldness that settled over Quatre. "Affirmative. Level Zero authorized."

"Level Zero?" Don asked. "You said that before."

"Lethal force." Heero's words were clipped. "No one shall face a Gundam and live."

Donatello knew he'd have to think about that later. He was used to dealing with a potential lethal situation fighting the Foot – after all, the first time they'd defeated the Shredder, Leo had cut his head off and they'd all considered that a good thing (even if it turned out later he was an alien with his head in his stomach instead) – but it was different to hear it so clearly spelled out.

They jumped to another rooftop, but Heero came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the next one before continuing on. He looked at Quatre. "You have thirty seconds."

"Roger that," Quatre said, closing his eyes.

Don glanced to Duo.

"Zero Four is reading the battle," Duo explained. "Taking in the input from Zero Three and Zero Five as well as your brothers and all the enemies within range. He'll be able to tell us about the movements of the other side and what to expect before we jump in blind."

Don realized he'd started to count in his head with Heero's time limit, and when he hit thirty seconds he was as tense as the Gundams waiting for Quatre's report.

"Karai isn't a part of this fight, but there are a lot of soldiers out there," Quatre said, opening his eyes. "The only reason they haven't overwhelmed our forces yet is that our group retreated to a defensible position on a higher building."

"What are their objectives?" Heero asked.

"To keep us away from their headquarters," Quatre answered. "With an urgency that suggests we need to get there as soon as possible to prevent whatever they don't want us to interrupt."

Heero nodded. "Agreed."

"What's the plan?" Duo asked.

Quatre's eyes went vaguely distant. "We'll cut a path free for the others from back here. There are too many to clear the field entirely. We'll have to run for the Foot HQ with a crowd at our backs, but if we can lose them, they may spend time searching for us while we infiltrate their base."

"I've heard worse plans," Don said. "Can you tell Trowa and Wufei to let my brothers know?"

"I can and…I have," Quatre said. "Let's get started."

Taking up running once more, they rounded a few taller buildings and soon came within visual range of the fight. They closed to a shadowed corner only a few rooftops away.

Don started doing some mental math. He knew how many Foot soldiers his brothers could take out in a fight, times about how long they'd been fighting, and came up with an uncomfortable estimate of the number his brothers would have to have faced already. Even from here, he could see the wave of black-wearing ninja spreading like a plague over the buildings. They needed an exit and they needed it now or their fatigue would get them killed.

"Donatello." Quatre's voice was insistent. "We will begin clearing a path from here. You must prevent any of them from interrupting us."

Don drew his bo and squeezed it. "Got it." He wasn't usually a praying kind of turtle, but this seemed a good moment for at least one wish. _Ancestors, help me stand strong and protect those who will protect my family_.

Quatre, Heero, and Duo lined up along the rooftop. Each drew a long pistol fitted with a silencer. Don noticed Quatre had snapped his goggles into place and wondered if they gave any kind of night vision. It made Don miss his own night-vision gear. Even so, the ambient light of the city and the half-moon overhead were more than enough for him to see well enough. The three raised their guns almost as one.

After the first few shots, the Foot became aware of the silent killers in their midst, of the ninja who fell and did not rise. As they began to scatter, spreading out to find the unseen threat, Heero and Duo each added a second pistol in their off hands and doubled their firing rate, pausing only ever so briefly to aim. Don guessed the three had taken out between twenty and thirty Foot by the time the first Foot ninja got to their rooftop to stop them.

Don quickly dropped the ninja, readying himself for the steady stream that had followed him. "How soon will the others be here?" he asked between blows.

"Already on the move," Quatre reported. "Hold position for an additional ninety seconds before redirect to intercept."

Don swung and took out four Foot in a single blow, thinking less about his opponents and more about the emptiness in his friend's voice.

Ninety long seconds later – and about a dozen more Foot defeated by Don before they got within range of the Gundams – Quatre broke off his assault. "Let's go. Rendezvous to fallback coordinates."

He started moving easily over the bodies of the Foot on the roof. Heero and Duo fell in around him, Don settling into rear-guard. As they ran, other Foot ninja spotted them, but most never got past Heero and Duo's expert marksmanship. Those who did come within range got a face full of bo and angry Donatello.

Don had just dropped two more before securing the nearest part of a fire escape that went up several stories. "How many Foot did Karai send out after us, anyway?" he asked irritably. "She hasn't gone this nuts since taking out our lair."

"Which is why we must hurry."

Don looked up – perched on the fire escape a few levels up was Wufei. He nodded once in greeting.

"Your brothers are on the roof," he said. "They're fine."

Don released a breath and scurried up the fire escape at full ninja speed, leaving four Gundams behind. Erupting onto the rooftop, he was grateful to see Leo, Mikey, and Raph waiting – out of breath, but unhurt. "Having a party without me?"

Mikey grinned at him. "Aw, I knew we were forgetting somebody."

"What's going on, Leo?" Don asked, closing with his brothers enough to reassure himself.

"No idea. We were out patrolling and the Foot jumped us. Trowa and Wufei showed up and after a little while said that you guys were clearing the way for us." Leo's quick glance between Trowa and where the other Gundams were coming up the fire escape wasn't lost on Donatello.

_He knows about their link_ , Don thought. _Or, at least, he suspects. He's more observant than I am when he has time to pay attention_.

"Status?" Heero asked.

Trowa unfolded from his watchful perch on top of a turbine and closed the circle with the other Gundams. "Mission-ready, Zero One."

"So, what's the plan?" Raph asked, clearly itching to continue the fight.

"The Foot lost track of us," Quatre said, glancing backwards. "They'll pick up our trail in minutes, though. We need to move on before that happens."

"No better time than the present to go pay that crazy lady a visit," Duo said with a manic grin.

"Normally, I'd argue with you," Leo said. "But this time, I think you're right. The Foot clearly want to keep us from reaching their headquarters, which means there's something going on there – something Karai doesn't want us to see."

"And that's just rude!" Mikey pouted.

"How are we gonna do this?" Don asked. "One penetration team? Nine is a lot of people to hide."

"We won't be hiding," Trowa told him with a small, dangerous smile.

Heero nodded. "No time for a lengthy infiltration." Then he smiled and the expression was cold and wolfish and deadly – and also somehow amused. "The Foot defenses are formidable. Strong enough to handle a full attack. Which is exactly what we will give them."

"I'm having flashbacks." Duo was practically bouncing. "From Christmas Eve 196 and your crazy stunt. Why do you take a heavily-guarded installation as a challenge, Hee-chan?"

"I don't want to know, do I?" Leo glanced to Wufei.

Wufei shook his head. "No, you do not."

"What are we going to do, then?" Raph asked.

It was Trowa who answered. "We will enter their base and destroy it. We will eliminate the risk to your world and ours. And we will not stop until we have ended Karai and her threat – permanently."


	8. The Wrong Side of Heaven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Lotsa tension in this chapter. And what some of you have been wondering about, who is really behind everything and what Karai's plan is – you're going to find out. We're not done yet, oh no. We're only making things worse.
> 
> I hope a good fight and some angst is well-timed for you. It always helps me forget the world, anyway. If you need to forget the real world for a while, I hope this will be your escape. If you're happy with the world, there's always more room for having some fun.
> 
> Enjoy!

"So, what are we looking at inside Foot HQ?" Raph asked, staring at the building with a sense of impending satisfaction. The new skyscraper that posed as the business headquarters for Oroku Saki's corporation was uncannily like its predecessor; apparently Karai had decided to replicate her father's work. Again. Like _always_.

"Last time we saw these guys, didn't they have a bunch of mutants and stuff?" Mikey asked. "And robot ninjas who were, like, _really_ nasty?"

Donatello grinned at Duo and Heero before saying, "Well, they _did_ , but…"

"We kinda put that stuff out of commission already," Duo finished with a wicked grin of his own.

"How?" Leo wanted to know.

Heero had perched on the rooftop with his laptop – which he'd brought in his bag, and even the turtles weren't surprised by that anymore even if they didn't know why he'd brought it to the Nexus to begin with – and didn't even look up as he raced through the Foot's security systems.

"Yesterday, we programmed the entire tower defense grid to identify all mutants on site as intruders and eliminate them with lethal force. The Foot computer engineers couldn't alter my commands, so they were forced to lock the surviving mutants in the highest-security cells for their own protection."

"And, let me guess," Raph said. "Those cells haven't unlocked since."

"Got it in one." Duo nodded. "As for all their ninja robot things, well, we have something special planned for them."

Wufei suddenly looked concerned. "Zero One, you didn't – ?"

"No." Heero met his eyes. "It was not necessary to employ any part of _that_ _system_ to gain command of the robots. They have been compromised with something very like the original OS that handled the mobile dolls before Wing Zero was even completed."

"I remember that worthless system." Trowa's voice was dry with amusement. "Are you certain it will actually _help_ us?"

Heero glared mildly at him. "It is sufficient to command the robots to attack any non-robot wearing the emblem of the Foot and to keep them from running into one another, and that is all that is needed."

"So, what's left, then?" Leo asked. "The mutants are taken care of, and so are the robots."

"More than half the Foot soldiers are out searching for us." Heero's eyes returned to the security feed on his screen. "The building's inherent defenses will be shut down in a matter of moments. We will only have to contend with those who evade the robots – and Karai herself."

"Speaking of which." Michelangelo scooted to the side to where Quatre was quietly monitoring the searching Foot soldiers. "When we find Karai, are you gonna be okay?"

Quatre frowned. "I don't really know."

"Zero Four." Wufei's voice snapped with authority. "What aren't you telling us?"

"It's not like what happened with Ezekiel Rage when I was compromised and shut down." Quatre shook his head. "But maybe that's the closest thing. Except this time I don't have ZERO to help me compensate."

Wufei snorted loudly, remembering exactly how that encounter had ended, and how neatly he specifically had been manipulated into following Quatre's plans – which he otherwise would never have agreed to do. The turtles shrugged at one another, not really sure they wanted to be brought into this particular loop.

"If you're compromised," Trowa said softly, meeting Quatre's eyes and holding them, "we will be there."

"I know."

Don smiled at the open affection and trust that suddenly shone through the situation. A glance to his brothers proved he wasn't the only one who had drawn conclusions about Quatre and Trowa – nor was he the only one to be happy to see it.

Heero shut his laptop with a firm click. "The more important question is if it changes anything."

Quatre broke from Trowa's gaze and looked steadily at Heero. "No, it doesn't. Karai needs to go down. That's the only thing that matters."

"Yeah, but couldn't she, you know, do whatever she did to knock you out of it again?" Raph asked.

"I will survive anything Karai throws at me," Quatre told him, his face set as he squared his shoulders. "But there are other lives on the line. If Karai is allowed to continue, she is a danger to you and your world, and possibly to ours. We spared her life in the Nexus because we needed information. Once we know what her ultimate goal is, we will revisit that decision."

"You're really planning to kill her?" Leo's throat went dry as he spoke.

"Some people just need killing," Duo said far too flippantly. "If Karai was going to kill any of us, we'd do whatever we had to. If Karai goes back to the Nexus somehow and actually gets the War Staff this time, you'd be sorry we didn't kill her when we had the chance."

Leo was opening his mouth to retort, but Raph grabbed his arm. "Stow it, Splinter Junior. Or don't you remember pushing the Shredder into a laser beam and turning him to nothing?"

"Yeah, but that was…different."

"No, Leo." Don shook his head, his voice low. "Like it or not, we have to stop Karai. She tried to get the Staff. I can only think of one reason she might want it and we can't let that happen. And you know better than I do that if anyone could find a way back into the Nexus, if anybody could actually get the Staff, it's her."

"Never thought I'd see the day you were advocating taking a life, Donnie." Leo looked at his brother as if he hadn't seen him before.

"I'm not advocating it. I'm just…" Don sighed and looked away. "We can't go in there deciding we won't do everything necessary to stop her. We can't give her an inch, Leo. Even Master Splinter warned us she might be more dangerous than the Shredder ever was."

"She was our ally!" Leo was getting angry. "Against the Demon Shredder and the last time the Utrom Shredder came back. She helped us save the world from them! She doesn't deserve to die!"

"Bro, when are you gonna get it?!" Raph roared. "The _only_ reason she helped us either time was because it was _her_ life on the line! She'd have let the Utrom Shredder rip us apart the last time as long as it didn't destroy all existence or whatever!"

Suddenly Wufei was between them. "Stop your infantile argument this instant!" His glower was enough to make even Mikey step back. "Previous motives are irrelevant to this discussion."

"If she is a threat now, she is a threat now," Trowa added. "We will treat her as such."

"And we don't even know for sure if killing her is the only way to stop her, anyway," Duo pointed out. "We're just keeping our options open until Cattie gets the chance to decide."

Leo rounded on Quatre. "What gives _you_ the right to decide to execute an opponent you don't even know?"

"We do." Heero rose and moved close to where Quatre was holding himself very stiffly. " _We_ gave him that right. And if you do not wish to accept it, stay here. But if you interfere with us, we will stop you."

Donatello suddenly remembered what Quatre had said about how he was the one the Gundams relied on for strategy as well as solutions, and that he was their leader. That the Gundams trusted Quatre to know not only how to win and when to fight, but also what to do ethically. _I told him I wouldn't want to be in that position. Now I wonder how he can stand it at all. Leo can barely take it sometimes, and he's still got Master Splinter to help with all the big stuff_.

"I'm not going to let you run around murdering people!" Leo glared at Heero. Heero ignored the glare and turned to kneel beside his computer once more.

Wufei raised an eyebrow. "How hypocritical of you. You did not object to it when it secured our escape from the Foot a few minutes ago. In fact, you murdered several yourself in the battle."

Mikey gulped. "Yeah, but that was different…" He unconsciously echoed Leo's words.

"A battle is a battle. Your only duty as a soldier is to win," Trowa said suddenly. "And you cannot leave enemies behind you to strike when you aren't prepared. The best you can hope for is that both sides compete honorably. But the only thing that means anything is protecting what you intend to protect."

"There's no honor in executing anyone who _might_ be a threat without giving them a chance," Leo shot back.

"Do you think we _like_ killing?" Duo demanded. "You think we _like_ being the monsters parents tell their kids stories about? We do it because _somebody's_ got to. If I hadn't shot that goon behind Raph on his blind side on the second rooftop less than an hour ago, he'd be dead right this minute. We spare the people when we can, and this isn't one of those times."

Duo actually turned his back. "If that's how you feel about it, next time I won't bother. It's not like I need more nightmare fuel."

"That's enough." Quatre's voice sounded both raw and stilted. "Time's running out."

Don felt Quatre's eyes fall on him and realized belatedly that Quatre was reading him – reading all four turtles – and making a decision right then and there. He held out a hand. "Quatre, wait."

Quatre ignored him. "Karai is a threat to your world. She has proven that. She's got an army of ninja robots and mutants and loyal followers and there's absolutely nothing preventing her from turning them on the people of this city. Add to that her ambition to take command of an item that can literally control time and space and the barriers between dimensions. She is too dangerous to be allowed to act freely."

"He's got a point," Raph said in a low tone.

His eyes landed on Leo. "But you cannot get past your feelings for her or whatever history you share. We can understand that." Quatre smiled bitterly. "The only way to live a good life is to act on your emotions. But we cannot let your emotions decide the fate of anyone in Karai's path."

Don saw what was about to happen. The only reason the others missed it was that they were so focused on Quatre. _Or is it deliberate? Is he showing his hand to me for some reason? Trusting I won't interfere? They could be keeping me from seeing it, but they're not. There must be a purpose_.

Quatre's smile turned brittle. "We can't ask you to betray your feelings, Leonardo. And we won't ask your brothers to test their loyalty. But we _are_ going after Karai."

Heero rose from where he had been slowly putting his laptop away. The gun flashed in his hand. Leo took the first shot in the arm before he knew what he was looking for. Raph started to dodge, but a shot from behind him – from Wufei – caught him in the thigh. Heero's second shot to Raph's shoulder hit its mark, too.

"What the _shell_?" Mikey ducked to one side. He watched, aghast, as Raph slid to the rooftop, eyes closing.

And then Duo was at his side and put two shots into his shoulder.

Leo, with only the one dart which wasn't enough to pull him under right away, blinked heavily as he stared at Quatre. "...Why?"

"I'm sorry, Leonardo," Quatre said softly. He closed the distance between them, gently taking Leo's swords from limp hands and helping him down before he fell. "I'm sorrier than I can tell you. But this was the only way we could ensure that you wouldn't prevent us from doing whatever we need to do to protect your world and ours. We can't make you act against your feelings or your honor. All we can do is take the choice from you."

"Our hands are stained with blood," Wufei said. "We will bear this burden for you."

"Donatello." Don looked up into Heero's intense glare. "We leave you awake to guard them."

"And if I refuse?" Don asked. "If I decide to fight you myself, to honor what my brothers would have chosen if you hadn't drugged them?"

"There's lots more darts," Duo told him. "And you can't avoid all of us." He said it matter-of-factly, and Don knew he was right.

"Here." Trowa handed a small pack to Don. He realized it was a med kit. "In case anything goes wrong."

"And you can borrow this," Duo said. He set a strange, small device by the unconscious Mikey's head. "It's a mini hyper-jammer. I've been working on them for a while. It'll create an illusion that there's nothing here but shadow. It's dark enough on this roof to make you blend in pretty good, and it'll confuse infra-red and night-vision and heat-seeking stuff, too."

"And I'll be listening for you," Quatre added. He stepped close to Donatello and gripped his forearm for a moment. A tingle of energy flowed between them. "If the Foot do find you even after we lead them off, we'll come back for you and your family if you need us."

Don looked down at Mikey and Raph, both out cold. At Leo, struggling to fight the effect of the drug but only barely awake. At the five set expressions before him. The question popped out before he could stop himself. "Why me?"

Quatre's eyes met his with a strange mix of sorrow and callousness. "First, you are the one with the most medical knowledge, so you are best able to help them if we have miscalculated the doses of the tranquilizer. Second, you will be able to use the hyper-jammer without much trouble. Duo retrofitted this one for you last night."

"Thirdly," Heero said, his voice cool and even, "Quatre cares about you differently from your brothers and it would distract him if he were forced to fire upon you."

That, more than anything else, decided him. "Okay," Don said. As the Gundams nodded and redistributed their packs slightly, preparing to go, he glanced at the med kit in his hands.

"Ask now, before we go," Wufei said. "Your curiosity is obvious."

Caught out, Don sighed. "How long have you been planning this?"

"We prepared for this eventuality before we had left the Nexus." Heero didn't even glance up as he pulled on his backpack.

"So today's sparring? That was a warning?" _Or maybe a promise of what you'd be willing to do if we made it necessary_ , he thought.

Duo shrugged. "Nah, that was just fun."

"But this _is_ why you were so upset when I figured out about your empathy and your connection to the others." Don looked back at Quatre. "You were afraid I'd worked out your plans."

He nodded. "Thankfully, you latched onto my feelings of guilt – which are real, by the way, I didn't just invent them to manipulate you – and it redirected things."

"Raph was right," Don said. "We really will never understand you."

"Nobody does," Trowa told him.

"Don't feel bad." Duo smirked. "We're plugged into Cattie's heart and _we_ still can't outthink him."

"Well, I'm sitting down to a chessboard with you when you get back then," Don said, trying for light. He was caught by the stricken expression the blond turned to him.

"If your family forgives us, I would welcome it," Quatre said quietly. "But somehow, I don't expect they will."

And without another word, the five Gundams turned away and disappeared into the night.

-==OOO==-

They didn't speak. There was nothing that needed to be said.

Quatre became a running stream of information and it was no different from any one of them monitoring the feeds from their Gundams while in battle. It lived in the background, and though they barely paid it any attention, they could have recited everything it conveyed from moment to moment if pressed. It was effortless for Quatre to share it now, and effortless for them to absorb it.

From the plans Heero and Duo had liberated, they knew Karai was most likely in one of the ostentatious upper floors of the tower. They also knew that the tower would currently be in an uproar after the cumulative impact of the various tricks Heero had been deploying while the Gundams stalled for time with the turtles. Normally, they would have attempted to breach the tower at its highest level, possibly from an air-drop, to spare themselves wasting time avoiding confrontations with the Foot while climbing through the mid-level floors. But there wasn't time to arrange that now, and it hardly mattered anyway – the Foot depended upon their computers to monitor everything for them even in the midst of the tower itself turning against them.

But those computers weren't the Foot's anymore.

On the roof of the nearest building – a rooftop that should have been under Foot surveillance but Heero and Duo had taken care of that days before – they dug into their little packs for the line and hook. Trowa made an almost easy leap across the yards of open air to grip the building with fingers and toes on a narrow ledge of decorative brick. He crawled down and over a little to where a vent should have been defended by lasers but was standing open. As he affixed the line, Heero input the final commands on his laptop, causing a cascading failure of the tower's remaining security systems.

By the time the Gundams were sliding down the improvised zip-line to their entry point, the tower was up in arms, literally, as the internal security measures, including the robot Foot ninja, began to attack the Foot directly.

The Gundams slipped through the building, sometimes taking to air vents and sometimes moving openly in the hallways. Wufei and Duo led, the former to silently take out any Foot who came upon their position and the latter having memorized every inch of the building. Behind them, Heero and Quatre monitored the situation – one via laptop and one via empathy. Trowa acted as ready rear-guard. The tower around them was like a living organism with an immune system, accepting the Gundams and violently attacking everyone else. No doors barred the way for them, no guards or lasers answered their presence. They moved like ghosts through the hallways, the only sound the screams and struggles of those whom the tower had declared the enemy.

Through their humming connection, the Gundams felt at ease in spite of the carnage everywhere around them. But then, there were two kinds of enemies the Gundams recognized and these were all too familiar.

If the Foot had been soldiers who had joined the organization in order to protect others, to serve their people with honor and courage, to stand between evil and the innocent, the Gundams would have spared them as they did the army that rose in Dekim Barton's uprising; they would have given their lives if necessary to avoid killing those who acted in good faith. But the Foot were terrorists, protecting nothing but their own power and self-interest, serving no higher ideal than evil. Heero and Duo had done extensive research while taking over the Foot computer systems and had learned that every new initiate to the Foot, along with studying ninjitsu, was carefully retrained and schooled until any weaknesses such as kindness or integrity were wiped away. They were as empty-hearted as their robotic counterparts, and they had willingly embraced that radicalization.

The Foot were the monsters people thought the Gundams had become and were unwilling to be redeemed. With no humanity left to save, the Gundams would eliminate them.

Only in the silence between them did the Gundams ever know whether that upset them. Whether killing even those dedicated to a lifetime of hurting others scraped at the rawness within their souls. Because, even if it did, it did not matter. The Gundams were used to sacrificing their feelings for what was more important.

As the Foot were destroyed by their own evil around them, the Gundams ascended to where Karai waited.

-==OOO==-

Leo woke to find himself retching horribly. He heaved in a desperate gulp of air, coughing on the bitter taste in his mouth. "What…the shell…?"

"Leo!" Don bent over him. "Easy. It'll pass in a minute."

Leo's head spun, but he still managed to bark out, "What happened? Where are we? Why's it so dark?"

Don huffed a laugh. "Leave it to you to make sense so soon after waking up from that cocktail."

Leo glared at him.

Don got an arm around Leo's shell and shifted him to a sitting position leaning back against something solid. "Okay. Short version – the Gundams drugged you and Mikey and Raph and went after Karai on their own. We're in the same spot we were before, but with this thing Duo called a hyper-jammer which is casting an interesting visual phenomenon somewhere between a phasic hologram and— "

"So we're invisible?" Leo cut through the science.

"More like cloaking the way the Foot Techs do it, but sure."

Establishing they were safe, Leo jumped to the next most important thing. "Are Raph and Mikey okay?"

"Yeah." Don nodded. "They're still out, though. I only wanted to deal with one cranky turtle at a time."

"How'd you wake me up?" Leo wanted to know.

"The Gundams left us a med kit in case anything went wrong. It has a few shots of adrenaline in it. It also has a description of the chemical composition of the tranquilizer they used – basically a really complex horse tranq mix. That stuff works okay on us, though the mutagen in our systems tends to metabolize it faster than people expect. I estimated that our natural responses would be helped along by the adrenaline and would purge the worst of the tranq in minutes rather than hours."

Leo nodded as if he'd been listening through all the detail. "Can you wake them up?"

"Sure. As long as you're feeling okay? No residual confusion or dizziness?" Don watched him closely.

Leo considered for a moment, then shook his head. "No, the more I wake up, the better I feel. Get Raph and Mikey going as fast as you can."

"How come?" Don asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Because we're going after them."

-==OOO==-

Quatre felt the shiver run through him. Before anyone else could even inquire, could even wonder what was wrong, he sent the answer through the code they had developed and refined until it was as natural as breathing and just as automatic: _The turtles are awake and they are coming here_.

Quatre sent back Heero's words to the others. _Then we need to finish this quickly_.

-==OOO==-

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Raph asked, looking up at the tower.

Leo glared at him. "They're going to kill Karai."

"And you're so sure that _ain't_ a good idea?" Raph shot back. "Look, I know you got some weird hang up about her, but this is really getting ridiculous. _She tried to kill us. More than once. Recently_."

"I know all that but…" Leo looked away. "I just…I feel like I can reach her. Get her to understand."

"You can't, Leo." The coldness in Donatello's voice drew their attention.

"What do you mean, Donnie?" Mikey asked.

"I've seen Karai _kill_ you, Leo," Don said, his eyes never looking away from Leonardo's. "In that alternate future where the Shredder had taken over the world. Millions and millions of people dead and Karai never once turned away from him. And in the end, Karai killed you from behind, dishonorably, rather than betray him."

"Don…" Leo trailed off. What could he say?

"Maybe _somebody_ can save her from her crazy," Mikey offered gently, "but it isn't you, bro. It's never going to be you."

"And if we don't stop her, we won't be able to find anybody else to try," Raph said. "Now, can you handle that, Fearless? Or do you wanna stay here?"

"No." Leo shook his head. "No matter what, I'm coming with you."

Together they headed into the Foot tower.

-==OOO==-

Wufei kicked in the doors of the penthouse at the top of the tower.

Karai, dressed in the armor of the Shredder and surrounded by at least a hundred of the surviving Foot, strode to the front of the crowd, her face incandescent with fury. "Who are you!? What have you done here!?"

Duo sauntered forward, hands loose at his sides. "What, we can't drop by for a visit? And we wanted to surprise you!"

Heero was close behind him, a gun in each hand, but he held still. He could have taken Karai out in one shot, but they had to give Quatre time to read her first.

"You will pay for what you did in the Nexus, and you will _suffer_ for what you have done to my Foot Clan!"

The Foot charged them, brandishing weapons.

"Hurry it up, Zero Four!" Wufei snapped, dodging to one side to push into the room, his own dao in his hands and striking with all his skill. As he drew off a good portion of the crowd, Heero and Duo began clearing a path. Into the wake of their cover, Quatre and Trowa emerged.

When Karai saw Quatre, her rage became even darker. She took the helmet that had been in her hands and donned it. " _You_! _You_ are the one!" Her voice was distorted by the mask. She pointed her sword at him. "Bring that one to me!"

Quatre sighed. "This is _not_ how I wanted this to go."

Trowa shrugged. "But you knew it would turn out this way in the end."

"Unfortunately, yes."

Trowa flicked a tiny smile at him and took a shot. Karai's helmet rang with the bullet, but other than leaving a small dent, the bullet didn't penetrate. He quickly assessed the rest of her armor and decided it all looked pretty bullet-proof; still, he made a few shots at areas that weren't covered with metal spikes to be certain. None of them got through, and Karai seemed pretty annoyed at the end of his target practice.

But Quatre was watching for something else entirely. "She's not limping," he said.

Duo, busy using one ninja as a shield while firing into the crowd, turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"Trowa wounded her in the leg just a few days ago in the Nexus. But she's not limping. It's as if it never happened."

Karai laughed. "In a sense, it didn't."

"I've had it with this woman's riddles!" Wufei roared. "Zero Four, make your decision!"

"Wait!"

Four shapes dropped from the ceiling.

"You are _not_ supposed to be here." Heero's glare of death was turned in full on the turtles.

"Mix a stronger batch next time," Raph told him.

"Uh, no please." Don shook his head. "Stronger is _not_ a good idea. I just used the adrenaline in the med kit and…"

"Silence!" Karai bellowed. "Turtles! You have defeated me for the last time!"

"Karai!" Leo yelled, leaping to the air and moving to put himself between her and the Gundams. "Why are you doing this? We have been allies!"

"You and your family are the enemies of my father," Karai told him. "And for his sake I will not spare you another time."

"The Utrom Shredder is dead and you helped us do it." Leo closed with her and caught her blade between his own. "Why keep following his memory into hatred?"

"Because there are ways around death, Leonardo. I told you. The Shredder will _always_ return. And when he does, I will be waiting!"

"What do you know that we don't, Karai? Why move against us now?"

Don, who had settled in beside Quatre and Trowa, froze in the act of readying to smash out into the crowd of Foot soldiers. Trowa expertly shot the nearest threat to him while Don looked wide-eyed to his older brother.

"Leo, remember what I said! There's only one reason for Karai to be after the War Staff – to bring him back!"

"Very good, Donatello." Karai swiped at Leo's legs. "The War Staff is a means by which even one destroyed may be returned for it has the power of space and time."

"No offense," Mikey yelled as he bounced up and down on a small pile of Foot, "but there's no way you could ever get the War Staff to work right for you. It takes a pure heart and a lot of serenity and you don't have _either_!"

"I do not need the War Staff for myself," Karai shouted, dodging an overhand blow by Leo. "It is payment! But perhaps your presence here will be payment enough!"

"Enough for what?" Quatre called. He'd worked his way through the ninja carefully and was behind Karai. When she turned to look at him, he reached out, evading her wicked gauntlet, and latched a hand onto her elbow. This time, Quatre had a mental defense ready, and rather than being struck with pain, he gathered his own power and lashed out himself.

Karai gave a wordless cry and they were violently blown apart by a strange explosion of dark light.

"What the shell was that?" Raph demanded.

Trowa threw himself into the air, heart in his throat, and came down beside where Quatre lay crumpled against a pillar. His eyes were open and his face was pale.

"I'm okay," Quatre said, pushing the assurance to the others as quickly as he could.

Trowa hauled him from the ground, not even looking around, knowing that the others would pick off any ninja that got too close while they were vulnerable. Which didn't stop Quatre from lifting his own gun and shooting one from under Trowa's arm.

"You shouldn't have done that," Trowa whispered.

Quatre shook his head. He knew that. He'd guessed as much before he'd done it, though not for the reason of some kind of energy discharge. But he needed to know. Needed to understand. It wasn't just about identifying Karai's plan and determining whether or not she warranted a death sentence. The touch of that repulsive horror inside her had been something Quatre had only sensed when deep in the throes of his own madness. He couldn't let it pass without confronting it again, facing it, and proving he could withstand it.

But the explosion of vile energy? That had not been something he had expected.

"To be fair," Quatre said as he got his feet under him, "I couldn't have calculated that an empathic attack could result in something that looks like the Mercurius's planet defensors exploding. Where did that even come from? I'm sure it wasn't me."

"I know that energy!" Don yelled. "It's the Demon Shredder's. Karai channeled it into herself to help weaken him before we took him down a year ago. It must have been inside her the whole time!"

The voice that spoke was low and gravelly.

"Indeed."

"No way." Mikey started to back up. Most of the Foot were down, leaving plenty of room for him to regroup with his brothers.

"It can't be." Leo shook his head. "He's gone. We saw it!"

"How little you understand," the voice rumbled.

The Gundams were also withdrawing to a small knot. Quatre was unsteady on his legs, but he took up his position in their formation gamely, face set.

Karai was getting to her feet in the center of the room. Around her, a strange sort of energy swirled.

"What is it?" Heero looked sharply to the turtles.

"It better not be what we think it is," Raph's voice was low and dark. "Or we gotta _big_ new problem."

"Yes, you do."

A cold wind began to kick up in the room, smelling of sulfur and old blood. The few Foot soldiers who were still conscious and able began to flee, vanishing from the room and dragging or carrying many of their fallen comrades with them. The turtles and Gundams let them go, focusing on the emerging threat before them.

From the center of the whirlwind and a sparking, chaotic energy, a creature emerged.

Even the war-hardened Gundams flinched at its appearance. Red-scaled and inhumanly tall, one grinning maw of a face protruded from what ought to have been a torso. Looming above on a long neck was a second face that had frozen in a sinister mask. In one over-big clawed hand, a scepter winked and sparkled with power that bent easily around the huge body and writhing tail. The Gundams didn't need their connection to Quatre to feel the malice rolling off the creature – it was as potent as the smell of decay and death that clung to the very air around it.

"Ultimate Drako!" Leo exclaimed.

" _That's_ the Ultimate Drako thing you were talking about?" Duo stared at it. He loaded another clip into his gun with a snap. "I don't remember you telling us he was this..."

"Gross?" Mikey suggested.

"Monstrous," Wufei said. He sheathed his sword knowing he'd likely not get close enough to use it. _I would trade much for a rocket-launcher right now. Or a Gundam_.

"Surprised to see us, turtles?" the creature menaced. It floated in midair and leered at them.

"Very, considering the last time we saw you, we kicked your shell to dust!" Raph yelled at him.

"Your arrogance is surprising," the monstrosity said in a mixed voice that seemed to come from both faces at once. "As we recall, you barely survived us before we were driven off."

Mikey took in a gulp to yell something and Don stomped on his foot, suddenly understanding. _Drako was moving through time. Obviously the encounter where we destroyed him hasn't happened for him yet. And if we give it away, maybe we'll end up changing what did happen_.

"We are here to exact our revenge!" Ultimate Drako continued. "You turtles and your rat master will all suffer for what you have done to us!"

"Karai!" Leo shouted. "You're working with _that_?"

"It does not matter to me what this creature wishes to do to you. With the power to transcend space and time, my father will be returned to me." The mask and its dark shadows hid her expression, but the turtles who knew her well recognized that tone. She was serious – and totally committed to this course of action.

"And that's why you needed the War Staff," Quatre said. "Because that's what the Ultimate Drako wanted all along."

"You are clever and dangerous," Karai pointed her sword to the tight group of Gundams. "You too will be destroyed for your interference."

Duo shrugged elaborately. "Lady, trust me. We've heard that before."

Ultimate Drako raised the scepter in his claws. "We will enjoy this!"

The turtles drew together and held onto one another, Leo and Raph both latching onto Donatello with particular strength – they remembered too well being separated last time and barely finding one another again.

"But before you take your revenge," Karai's voice rang out. "Complete your bargain with me. Restore my father."

Ultimate Drako carelessly backhanded her with his tail, striking so quickly she did not have time to dodge. "Do not think to order us around, worthless human. Our bargain was for the War Staff. This revenge we take for our own agenda."

Karai faced him, her helmet slightly dented from the blow but that was all. "Then let us destroy them all and complete our business."

Ultimate Drako smiled ferally with the mouth that moved and raised the Time Scepter.

"Scatter!" Leo ordered. His brothers reacted instinctively, dodging swiftly as the glowing nimbus of light engulfed the area they had been standing.

To the side, the five Gundams had a different aim in mind entirely. They closed the distance between themselves and Karai and began to attack her directly. Wufei led, striking with fists and feet made strong with years of practice and the singing connection between himself and Quatre confirming the empath's read of her hatred and malice. Heero and Trowa flanked Wufei, using any openings to make their own attacks. A step back, Duo and Quatre's guns barked as they took precise shots where Karai's armor seemed weakest.

Leo didn't have time to worry about whether or not the Gundams were going to kill Karai. He had a lot more to do keeping Ultimate Drako from killing his family.

"Get the Time Scepter!" he yelled, throwing himself into the air to evade a blast by the Scepter that turned a statue into a molten metal explosion. "He'll be powerless without it!"

"Way, way easier said than done, bro!" Mikey called back.

Another shot rang out. Heero had broken from the Gundam battle and stepped between where Raph was circling Ultimate Drako and where Don was sliding around in the shadows to get a better angle of attack. As had happened in the Nexus, the bullet was caught in the air.

"These _children_ are those who defeated you at the Battle Nexus?" Ultimate Drako sneered at where Heero stood braced.

Karai was too busy handling the other four Gundams to reply.

Ultimate Drako looked at them. "Karai tells me one of you was able to manipulate the War Staff better than she. On the other hand, she is an unfocused wretch of a warrior, and even Leonardo might able to use it for a moment before suffering failure."

"Was that a compliment?" Raph glanced at Leo with a sly grin. "I can't tell."

Leo shrugged, the banter comforting amidst the danger. "If so, it's one more than I usually get from you!"

Raph laughed. "In that case, you're not quite as ugly as Ninja Dragon Remix over there. How's that?"

Raph was edging closer to Heero's position while Don retreated towards Leo. Mikey bounded up to one of the pillars that lined the room and pushed off, sailing through the air like a missile to hit Karai from the side, knocking her away from the Gundams and into a corner.

"My turn!" Michelangelo cheered. "Plus, like, there is no way I wanna tangle with Mister Crankypants over here."

"Well, that was unorthodox," Trowa said with a faint smile.

"I'm tapping in. For a minute. Don't go far!" Mikey told him, facing Karai. Her helmet was bent half out of shape, though she still wore it, and the Gundams had shot off several of the more prominent spikes on her Shredder armor, including the wicked points of her gauntlet.

Mikey could sense Karai's annoyance at having to face him. He knew perfectly well that he was considered the most annoying, least honorable, and all-around worst of his brothers and it must poke at her pride to be stuck with him. But Mikey wasn't the Battle Nexus Champion for nothing, and he was going to prove it – if for no other reason than to irritate her even more.

"However." Ultimate Drako was still apparently talking to himself. "If one of you is a threat, we cannot allow you to prevent us from attaining the War Staff ourselves."

He raised the Time Scepter and a glowing beam hit the ground surrounding Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei. The planks of the flooring under them began to melt, and all four were pulled into a thick and sticky knee-deep morass.

"Coward!" Wufei roared. "You attempt to battle us with these dishonorable tricks?"

"If we wanted to battle with the likes of you, we would!" the creature returned. "You are worthy only of entertaining us."

Suddenly Heero was beside Leo. "Zero Four says to get that Scepter now while he is distracted."

Leo stared at him for a moment, not comprehending. And then all his previous suspicions crashed together in a striking realization. "You can talk to him through his empathy."

Heero gave him a rapid-fire glare of death. "Obviously."

"So what?" Mikey called from where he was adding a few new dents to Karai's armor while she struck at him furiously. "I can talk through my armpit noises if I have to!"

"I dunno what's worse," Duo quipped as he was trying to drag his feet out from the strange floor. "Your jokes or his looks!" he smiled dangerously up at Ultimate Drako.

Leo saw his opportunity and made a grab for the Scepter. But Ultimate Drako ducked just in time and Leo landed harmlessly to the side.

"You are unable to defeat us, Leonardo! And to prove it, we will demonstrate our power as we crush your would-be allies!"

It happened so fast.

Or maybe it didn't. Maybe it was the strange way time flowed around Ultimate Drako, bending and breaking to his whim.

A nearby marble column was suddenly transmuted into an enormous mallet, hanging ominously over where four of the five Gundams were still fighting the soupy flooring. They looked up in time to see it coming, staring stubbornly, defiantly, even knowing they couldn't get free in time. Even knowing it held their deaths.

For as long as he lived, Heero would remember that instant. With no time to react, no time to think, no time to decide, he made a choice that bypassed his mind and went straight to his soul. _The only way to live a good life is to act on your emotions_. And in that moment of certain death, Heero's emotions cared about one thing above all others.

Heero got his hands on Quatre's arms and brutally ripped him free of the floor to safety. And he left the others to die.

The mallet fell into a streak of green.

" _Raphael_!" Leo screamed.

Quatre was already fighting Heero's grip, ignoring the pain of the splinters that littered his legs from the knee down – the floor had gone rigid at the last instant to pin its victims in place. While Ultimate Drako laughed and Michelangelo went silent in his assault against Karai, Quatre dragged Heero to join Leo in a desperate sprint to the marble that was already dissolving, leaving devastation in its wake.

"Raph!" Leo was shouting, his voice oddly high and panicked.

One limp green arm was all that was visible.

" _Trowa_!" Quatre's voice wasn't as loud as it should have been; it was breathless and almost hysterical. It sounded to his ears – and Heero's – like his desperate cry when the Vayeate had exploded.

The marble was beginning to turn into dust, disintegrating before their eyes. Leo and Quatre were too focused on who was beneath it, but Heero noted that Ultimate Drako was glaring at the Time Scepter as though angry rather than savoring his victory.

On the other side, Donatello had a better view of the actual carnage as he skidded to the spot. The weight of the marble pillar-turned-hammer had hit the already-compromised flooring, cracking and splintering it into a ruin, enough to leave a series of breaks into the room below.

_The fact that the floor gave way is probably the only reason Raphael hasn't been smashed to death_ , he thought frantically. _Assuming he hasn't_.

"Come on, Raph." Don dropped to one knee and started yanking at the ruined planks of wood that were obscuring everything. "Don't give up on me, bro. _Please be alive_."

"He is," came Quatre's shaking voice. "They all are."

Don ripped away a huge portion of the floor as the last of the marble vaporized, allowing Leo and Quatre to get closer to the point of impact. Amidst the torn-up wood and twisted metal from the beams that supported the penthouse, with the bright light of the room downstairs shining eerily up through the cracks and gaps, Raphael's body was still.

And there was so much blood.

Don intercepted Leo before the eldest turtle could grab onto Raph. "Don't move him yet!" he snapped. "I have to see how bad it is first."

Leo's eyes were helpless and wide, but he nodded. All he could say was, "Okay."

Don pinned him with a look. "Keep Drako off us if you can. I'll take care of Raph. I _promise_."

A steadier nod and Leonardo was gone, flying back across the broad room to harry their opponent, who was now openly cursing and growling at his Time Scepter.

Don's attention was all on Raphael. His bull-headed, stubborn, protective brother had thrown himself between the marble and the remaining three Gundams clearly in the hopes that his shell would absorb the impact and save them from being killed by the blow. But the marble had been heavier and falling faster than it would have been under the normal rules of physics, amplified by the Scepter's power. Raphael's shell had been cracked in five or six places, and Donatello could see strangely pinkish flesh showing in the cracks where blood hadn't yet pooled. He was breathing, but Donatello wasn't honestly sure for how long.

Quatre was suddenly there and put a pale, shaking hand on Raph's foot – the nearest exposed skin that didn't look as though it had been run over by a steam-roller.

"What-?" Don started to ask.

Quatre's voice was still strange as he said, "I can push him under, put him into a state of coma or almost hibernation. If I slow down his brain enough, it might slow his heart and keep him from going into shock or bleeding to death."

"It's not going to matter if we can't get him out of here," Don said, feeling too young, too helpless, to be staring at Raph's broken body – _oh god was that a glimpse of his internal organs visible_? – and being the only chance at survival for his brother.

"We'll get him out of here."

Don looked up in surprise to see Wufei crawling out of the floor near Quatre. He looked burned and covered with small cuts but he was moving normally. Duo popped up in his wake looking even more burned and with wood splinter all through his skin. Don glanced over the spot even as Trowa emerged, understanding blossoming in his mind. _Something detonated, either intentionally or accidentally, at the moment of impact. That's what blew apart the floor like this and distributed the energy from the falling weight. If the floor hadn't been compromised, Raph would be in pieces and the Gundams would be dead beneath him. Instead, Raph was just in the way of the thing's momentum_.

"Whatever you did, you probably saved his life," Don said under his breath as he accepted a cloth from Quatre without paying any attention to where it came from and started trying to slow the bleeding.

"He saved us," Trowa said, obviously shaken. "He's the one who pushed us down into the floor to shield us."

"The explosion wasn't exactly planned," Duo agreed. He dropped the burned strips of fabric that were all that remained of his backpack.

Don had stopped listening. With Quatre at his side, he began packing cloths – he belatedly realized they were fallen Foot banners and parts of the room's many hangings which had scattered throughout the fight – into Raph's wounds. The blood was coming more slowly now, and Don raced to stopper it up wherever he could. He didn't know if Raph would ever wake up, or walk again, or be able to move. But he sure as shell was going to keep him from bleeding to death in the next few moments.

_If all I can do is bring him home breathing for father to say goodbye_ , Don thought while his heart sobbed and his hands kept working, _then I swear on my honor that I will do at least that much for my family_.

Across the room, Leo and Mikey were alternating who was irritating Karai and who was distracting Ultimate Drako, but both were mostly occupied by the strange behavior of the Scepter anyway.

"We need an exit and a way to get him to it without jostling him around too much," Quatre ordered to one side, gently tying off a once-golden tassel to keep one of Don's makeshift pads in place.

"On it." Duo sprinted off, Wufei at his side. Trowa stayed and watched over the desperate attempts to keep Raphael alive.

"Curse this fickle instrument!" Ultimate Drako was yelling. The Time Scepter was glowing fully now, but all attempts to get it to continue to strike against the turtles did nothing.

"Looks like you've lost your mojo!" Michelangelo yelled, and while the words were teasing his face was not.

"Time is no matter to us! When we return, we will have mastery over the Time Scepter and you will suffer tenfold what you have known today!" Ultimate Drako raised the Scepter and a portal appeared. He lashed out with his tail and caught hold of Karai. "Enjoy your last breaths!"

And they both vanished as the portal snapped shut.

Duo and Trowa were running back with the wooden Foot sigil that had hung on the far wall between them like a stretcher. They deposited it next to Donatello and Quatre, angling it so that the wide part would be under Raph's shell.

"Don." Leo ran back. "Is he…?"

"I don't know." Don shook his head. He _did_ know, but he couldn't say it, not now. Not yet. "We have to get back to the lair _now_!"

Quatre froze for an instant just as they loaded Raph's body onto the wooden seal and got everyone around it to lift it. "Heero's coming. He's got a helicopter."

But even as they bundled into the aircraft Heero had liberated from who knew where, even as Heero expertly piloted it to land on the nearest building to the lair, even as the rest of the Gundams lent their smaller hands and first-aid experience to Donatello's ministrations, the truth was written in every drop of blood, every heaving breath.

Ultimate Drako had come for revenge. It appeared he had succeeded.


	9. The Righteous Side of Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a blink-and-you-miss-it reference to The Silken Cord towards the end of this chapter. Couldn't resist.
> 
> Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me. I know I've been pokey about updates and I'm sorry for that. The weekend-ish after Thanksgiving will be the second-to-last update. After that, the first weekend in December will include the last chapter and the epilogue. I could have broken them up, but I think you'll know why I didn't when you see them.
> 
> If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I wish you a day of whatever you most appreciate, be it turkey, family, or whatever else. Me? I'll be glued to the Macy's parade before I serve Thanksgiving for 5 and later a dessert party for 12. Because that's how I roll.
> 
> Enjoy!

Leonardo and Michelangelo darted into Don's lab as soon as they saw the door open. While Splinter remained in the designated infirmary area with Raphael, Don had only gotten far enough to open the door and wave tiredly before dropping into his nearest chair. He wanted to drop farther, maybe through the floor itself. It was the first time Don hadn't been up to his elbows in trying to save his brother's life in the past hour. A tense, near-silent hour in a lair that seemed to be holding its breath waiting for the worst possible news.

"Don…" Leo began. "How…is he?"

"He's lost a lot of blood, and he might still be bleeding internally," Don recited. He was running on automatic now, barely aware of himself. "I don't have any way of making repairs on that scale without risking doing a lot more damage. I've done everything I can, even some things I didn't know I could do."

He shivered and Leo stepped to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know you've done your best."

Don nodded, barely cognizant that his eyes were warring between tears and despair. "I'm just…I'm not a doctor, Leo, and even if I were, I still might not be able to save him like this."

"Will he…be okay?" Mikey whispered.

Don looked at him brokenly. "For the next couple of hours? Maybe. But after that…well...it doesn't look good." Donatello lowered his aching head to his hands. "I've done all I can do," he repeated.

"Well, I haven't."

The three turtles turned to see Quatre standing in the doorway, head thrown back and his eyes fierce.

"You're not a healer too, are you?" Mikey found himself asking.

"No." Quatre quirked a tiny shadow of a smile. "But I am arguably the richest and most influential person in my world. Raphael saved us, and now I'm going to save him."

"How?" Leo asked.

"Guys." Duo appeared, shaking his head. "Quatre owns more medical facilities than you've got bugs in this city. You really don't think he can't get access to the best equipment, the best scientific breakthroughs, with just a wave of his hand?"

Heero followed Duo into the room. "And we know a doctor. Someone we can trust with our lives. We will not permit any harm to come to your brother. We will keep him a secret and we will guard him as we would each other."

"You just have to bring him to our world," Quatre finished. "I'll take care of the rest."

"Can we really trust this doctor?" Don looked up, the first hope lighting the haggard worry of his face.

"Yes." That was Wufei, black eyes steady. "She owes us her life. And she well knows not to cross us."

"One condition." Leo looked up at the five. "We're going with him. As much as we trust you, we're not leaving Raph alone in your world without us."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Duo nodded. "Besides, even if our tech is better, we don't have any mutant turtles that I know of. Sally'll need your help probably."

"Summon the portal back to our world, Wufei," Heero ordered. "We'll make the call."

"Wait…" Donnie unlocked a cabinet and drew out a device he had kept but never dared use again. "This will be easier."

-==OOO==-

"Preventers Station 105, Agent Po speaking."

"Good evening, Sally." Quatre greeted her.

"Oh, it's you, Quatre! Your signal must be scrambled. Tech couldn't find the source of the call, and the visual isn't working, either. Sorry we bounced you around so much."

Trowa snorted, but did not interrupt. If by the signal being "scrambled" Sally meant "is being carried through a transdimensional portal opened by what should be a flashlight and isn't," she'd have been close. No wonder it had taken so long for Quatre to talk his way through more than a few levels of security to Sally's office. Trowa kept eyeing the device Donatello had used to open the door to their world. He and Wufei would have to look at it later, but he couldn't yet shake the feeling that it _should not work_. And yet, there in a glowing opening was a view of L1 and the Earth beyond.

"Sally, we need your help."

"Who's hurt? Do I need to come in hot?"

The question and its fierce concern so reminded the three turtles of April they shared a small smile.

"Don't come in hot," Quatre answered, "but someone _is_ hurt. How good is your theoretical biology?"

"Theoretical? Your physiology is different from an average person's, but not even Heero's is _that_ different."

"It's not one of us. Someone else entirely."

"Preventers?"

"No."

There was a pause and then Sally took an audible breath. "We're talking off the books, aren't we?"

"Yes. No Une, no Agent Noin, nobody. We need your help and," Quatre's voice dipped low, "we can't trust anyone else."

"It's serious." It was, knowingly, not a question.

"He saved us," Quatre said heavily. "We owe him our lives."

"Where do you want me?" Sally asked, suddenly completely businesslike. "I'll bring everything I've got. I can be ready to move out in half an hour."

"A private transport will meet you outside HQ." Quatre's relief was audible. "My best med facilities will be available to you. When you see the…scope of the problem, I'll let you decide if you need more help, but to start with I'm clearing everybody out."

"Understood. I'm on my way."

The blond cut the communication and looked up. "That's that. She's already on L1, so it won't take her long to get to the facility I want to use." He leaned over to Donatello. "Can this thing drop us somewhere specific?"

He considered. "I think so."

"Good. Then we can just walk into the facility without having to arrange for transportation. Trowa?"

Quatre looked up and around; Trowa already had his own comm out. "I got it."

Heero nodded. "Good idea."

"What?" Leo's face creased in confusion.

"The Maganacs."

"The who-what?" Mikey asked.

"The group that gave me these." Quatre gestured to the goggles he had not yet removed from the crown of his head. "They are strong, skilled, and honorable. And loyal. I would trust them with everything I have ever valued."

"They can guard our perimeter, ensure absolutely no threats penetrate to reach us." Wufei's dark eyes were sharp, and he did not shy from saying what they were all thinking. "Except for that which can move between time and space. Even we cannot protect against that."

"But Double Dragon Face hasn't shown up here yet, either," Duo said, leaning against a wall and looking ready for a fight any moment. "Maybe if we jump dimensions it'll be harder for him to find us anyway."

"Any idea why he hasn't come here to finish us off yet?" Heero asked.

Leo shrugged. "When he disappeared, he seemed to be having trouble with the Time Scepter. And that's one magical item that doesn't always play fair."

Trowa returned to the group, having slipped back into the infirmary for a quick visual confirmation of Raphael and Master Splinter after sending the emergency signal to Rashid. "Either way, it does not matter. The attack will come or it won't – we must be prepared at all times to meet it and that's all we can do."

Quatre locked eyes with Donatello. "Get Raph ready to travel. I'll get the facility I want cleared out in a matter of minutes."

Don nodded, his exhaustion catching up with him, but Leo caught his arm. "We'll help." Throwing a significant look to Michelangelo, the three turtles made their way to join their father around Raph's bedside.

"My sons?" Splinter looked up, his face etched with despair.

"Quatre is going to get us to a hospital in his own world and is bringing in a doctor to help," Leo said. "We just have to get him there in time."

"So what's the problem?" Mikey wanted to know. "You're doing that hesitating thing."

Leo shrugged, staring at where a sluggish pulse beat in Raphael's still throat. "Are we really going to put ourselves in their hands? Go to their world where they have all the power? They drugged us. Went off to kill Karai. Should we really trust them?"

Splinter sighed. "My son, ask the question from another perspective. Do we have any other choice?"

"No." Leo shook his head. "But I just…I don't like it."

"Think about it this way," Don said softly as he began packing up the supplies he'd need in order to transport Raph safely. "You don't want to trust them. I get it. But Raph obviously did. He didn't have time to think about it – he just went with his gut, like he always does. And his gut feeling meant he risked his life to protect them."

Leo gulped. _And might have died for them_ , he added mentally. _Might have sacrificed everything for them even after it all_.

"You're right," he said finally. "And if nothing else, I…I have to honor that choice. Just in case it's…"

"Don't." That was Michelangelo, his voice low and sharp. " _Don't_ say it, Leo. It won't be. You'll see."

"I, too, believe we should trust in our allies and in Raphael's instincts," Splinter spoke, breaking the tension a bit. "Their methods are different, but their goals are true. And there is much of them we do not yet know. I will also join you on this journey so that I may help you watch over one another."

Leo nodded gratefully. This was definitely one burden he didn't think he could bear alone. He rested a hand on Raph's wrist and squeezed. _Hang in there. Maybe you were right all along about Karai. About those guys. I need you to wake up and say you told me so, okay? Just don't give up_.

And even though he was deeply unconscious, virtually in hibernation, Leo thought for a moment he could hear Raph's voice, twisted with a sardonic smile, answer him: "Never. Who do you think you're talking to here?"

_I hope I'm talking to you, Raph. Come back to us, bro_.

-==OOO==-

Sally Po glanced up at the big medical research facility. In spite of the fact that it was the middle of the day, the gates were shut and the big sign was not lit. But there was a row of security cars forming a perimeter at the edge of the building's grounds, and there were openly armed guards at the tollhouse out front guarding the only driveway into the fenced-in lot.

Sally asked the driver Quatre had sent to drop her off on the street a block away. It was an old habit from the war, and the sight of all those guards made her more than a little cautious about whatever it was that had Quatre so unsettled. She walked to the guard-station openly, guessing that her Preventers uniform probably spared her being ordered to the ground in the middle of the street.

"Agent Sally Po," she said, pulling out her ID slowly and holding it up for the group at the checkpoint. "I was invited by Mister Winner himself."

The guards exchanged glances. Finally, one huge guy who reminded Sally of Rashid but without any of the sense of humor she associated with the man nodded sharply. "You are allowed in. But you have to leave all weapons and any phones or other devices with us. You will be searched and you must leave your bag here. We will bring it to you after we examine it."

Sally felt her eyebrows almost hit her hairline, but she just nodded, passing the small duffle bag she'd stocked with medical equipment across to him. She stepped around the gatehouse to get out of direct view of the street and carefully pulled off her Preventers jacket. Then she unloaded her sidearm, the small pistol strapped to her ankle, and the heavy knife from her belt. A guard held out a bag and she deposited each, followed by her three phones (one for Preventers, one for general personal use, and one secured phone only for a few select friends and allies), a handheld scanner, and her earpiece.

The search of her person was professional but thorough – as thorough as it could be in broad daylight outside a world-class R&D building, anyway. Sally didn't object and didn't so much as twitch at the treatment; whatever was going on, Quatre was serious about security in a way she hadn't seen since the wars. And if she knew Quatre at all – and she liked to think she did, at least a little – he must have a good reason for all of it.

"All right," the head guard finally said. "You are to go in around the back and enter via the ambulance bay. Mister Winner will be waiting for you. You are not to leave the building for any reason unless escorted by Mister Winner himself or one of the Maganacs after they arrive. If you violate these rules, we have orders to prevent you from stepping off the grounds. Do you understand?"

Sally nodded. She didn't smile or wave as she set off along the parking lot, wondering. Around behind the main portion of the building, the ambulance bay sat still and empty. The automatic doors opened at her approach and she moved into the building without even a moment's hesitation.

Sally hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this.

The door slammed shut with a locking click behind her, but she already knew she was trapped. She looked around the room levelly, assessing. Two guns were pointed straight at her – Heero aiming his signature Glock, Trowa with his standard-issue Preventers pistol. Wufei stood nearest the only other door; he held the sheath for his dao loosely in his left hand, and his right rested on the hilt, though he had not yet drawn it. Directly across from her, Duo and Quatre stood watching her steadily. Duo's arms were up as though his hands were folded behind his head, but Sally knew better than that – Duo would be concealing whatever weapon he was currently favoring. She wondered if he was still on his tiny throwing knives kick.

"Sally," Quatre greeted her. Of the Gundams, he was the only one not holding a weapon, but Sally knew how quickly he could draw from the shoulder-holster he wore openly.

"What's going on?" she asked, not accusingly, but firmly.

"We know you are a good person, Po," Wufei spoke up to her surprise. "This would be the correct moment to prove it."

"Quatre is going to read your heart," Heero said.

"It's not your fault, Major Po." Trowa tipped his head to her. "But we have given our word to protect our allies as we would each other, so we can't let you through unless we are absolutely sure about you."

"Sure about what?" she asked. Sally was careful to keep very still. She knew better than to risk their legendary protectiveness. She wondered fleetingly exactly who had earned it from them, and if that person knew how rarely it was given.

"Your reaction," Duo said, and there was no hint of a smile in his words. "Cat will know if we can really trust you with this one. Normally we'd trust you, sure, but there's nothing normal this time."

Sally was one of the few people outside the Gundams themselves to be aware of at least some aspects of Quatre's extensive empathic abilities, having been his primary doctor since the wars, so she needed no explanation for that. But she looked to the blond and frowned. "You already know I would never betray you."

"Yes." He nodded and met her eyes steadily. "But we have to know that you won't betray _them_."

The door beside Wufei slid open and Sally couldn't help it – she took a step back and gasped with shock.

Leo had been expecting that. He was alone; Donatello was already deep in the medical equipment and had pressed Master Splinter and Mikey into assisting him. If anyone was going to confirm that this new ally was going to be allowed anywhere near Raph, it was Leonardo. He stepped fully into the room and let her stare.

The tension in the room seemed to make it suddenly cold, and Leo felt a shiver running through him. The five Gundams were not moving, not a bit, and they all looked as though they were seeing something invisible or listening to a sound beyond the range of normal hearing. Leo realized all at once that this Major Sally Po, besides being a doctor and soldier, was a friend of the Gundams. Maybe as close as April to the turtles, even. He was startled to think that, for his sake and the sake of his brothers, the Gundams were prepared and fully willing to take lethal action against her, all because they had promised. He wondered if he could raise a katana to April for something like that and his stomach curled in distaste.

_But if I had given my word_ , he thought to himself, _and if they needed it, I would do it and ask her forgiveness after she proved herself to them._

"Exactly." Leo heard Wufei whisper the word just to him.

"What...? How...? What...?" Sally was still reeling.

"All fair questions." Trowa made the tiniest of smiles. "But not the important part."

"Can you treat someone like this?" Wufei demanded. "Can you treat them as you would any other patient and protect them and not ever betray their existence? Can you save a life and not try to study them, no matter your curiosity?" His face was set and his voice was harsh.

"Can you keep them a secret?" Duo added.

"You will have to do better than you did when you first met me," Heero put in with a hard glint in his glare.

"Heero...that...that was totally different." Sally visibly fought to regain her equilibrium. "We were in a war then, and you were..." She trailed off. "No, you're right. You're right about that."

"I know."

"Sally." Quatre's voice cracked in the room with a deceptive smoothness. "If I told you that someone just like this," he gestured to Leonardo, "was dying because he saved our lives and we needed your help, could we trust you? Can you trust yourself? You will never be able to tell _anybody_ about them, ever. And no records will ever leave this building."

He stepped closer to her, Duo just to one side and behind, and Leo would be a poor ninja indeed if he couldn't tell Duo was deliberately staying distant enough that he could act without Quatre being in his way while remaining close enough to protect him if necessary. In fact, Duo was keeping himself close enough to Quatre's elbow to grab on, but he was still not blocking any of the others in the room, Leo himself included, from having an opening.

"Can you be a doctor to a dying friend?" Quatre's voice had gone soft. "We need help. We can't trust anyone this time, but we need to trust you."

"I..." Sally bit her lower lip and stared at Leo with so many warring emotions in her blue eyes. Then she seemed to shake herself and turned back to Quatre. "Yes, I can."

"Cat?" Duo asked.

"There's no time to lose," Quatre said, nodding sharply to Duo and the others and beginning to stride forward. "He's already lost a lot of blood and we're only beginning to get a picture of the internal injuries. His brother is something of a medic so you'll have an assistant, and his father has offered to help, too. If you want more than that, just ask. I can have anyone you want here in no time."

"I'm not sure there's a nurse in the Earth Sphere who can take that kind of interrogation, but I'll keep it in mind." Sally had fallen into step beside Quatre, but she paused as they reached Leo.

"I'm Leonardo," he said, bowing to her politely. "It's my brother, Raphael. You..." His voice faltered. "You have to help us. _Please_."

"Doctor Major Sally Po." Sally returned the bow with precise, practiced formality. "Don't think I don't have a thousand questions, because I _do_ , but I've known these five long enough to know when to shut up and get to work. I can't promise anything but to try." She met Leo's eyes unflinchingly. "I promise to do everything I can."

"This way." Quatre moved to the door. "The Maganacs are already on their way, too, so..." His voice faded as the pair moved into the room beyond. Duo followed, but Heero, Wufei, and Trowa stopped beside Leo, who felt frozen to the spot.

"She's...okay? You're absolutely sure?" he found himself asking.

"Yes," Trowa answered. "She's surprised, and curious, but she meant what she said. She wants to help."

"And we'll be watching her," Heero put in. "If she betrays us, we will not permit her to harm your family in any way."

"Po follows a code of honor of her own," Wufei said. "I have worked with her many times. I would trust her word in this. But." He smirked darkly. "As Heero says, if she proves false, we will be prepared. She will never be alone with your brother without one of us standing guard."

"You don't have to do that," Leo protested, even as it eased his heart to hear it.

"It's what we would do for each other," Trowa said. "We promised you that."

"I should be in there." Leo turned, but paused as he felt a strong hand on his wrist.

"No." Heero shook his head. "You have not slept since before the battle. You must rest now."

"Nobody's slept," Leo pointed out. "Don's running on nothing but stubbornness now."

"We will watch over your injured brother," Wufei said. "But you must watch over the others. If you rest now, you will be ready to step in when Donatello cannot go on."

Leo knew it was true, of course, but he frowned anyway. It didn't seem to fit somehow, this perceptive concern.

Heero smirked. "Don't forget, Quatre was listening to Sally with the fullest of his abilities and sharing everything with us. We could not help but be aware of you as well. We understand what you feel now. We have stood in your place before." The dark blue eyes flashed. "You cannot protect them from themselves if you are not already stronger than they."

"Don't argue," Trowa put in. "Or else Quatre will come out here and yell at you too, and he's busy. Plus, he's the worst worrier of us all. Trust me on that."

Leonardo huffed a laugh. "Would I be wrong to assume that at least some of this is Quatre's concern about everyone and not just yours?"

Duo shrugged. "Hey. Cattie worries. It's like an itch. We gotta do something about it."

"I think you're as protective of him as I am of my family."

"Obviously." Wufei rolled his eyes. "Because he is protective of us. And lots of people not worth protecting. We're positively _reasonable_ in comparison to Winner's unending worry."

Yeah, Leo knew something about that.

-==OOO==-

Sally had been in surgery with Raphael for almost four hours when Duo appeared in the monitoring suite up above. Donatello and Master Splinter had been pressed into assisting her (and Sally's true fortitude was revealed when she took the giant mutant rat in stride with the same professionalism she had shown to the giant mutant turtles) while Leonardo and Michelangelo both tried to sleep a few rooms away. Trowa and Wufei were both in the operating room – staying out of the way, of course, but present in case they were needed either to help or to defend against any sort of attack. Quatre had gone to meet and brief the Maganacs.

Duo had wandered, learning every step of the building as he was wont to do, and Heero had been monitoring the situation from his laptop, having hacked the entire building's security before Quatre could give him official access. As Duo glanced at the screen, he wasn't surprised to see the feeds from Horus as well – Quatre's vast, secret, planet-and-colony-wide network offering Heero unprecedented surveillance throughout L1.

"Status?" Duo didn't really need to ask – if something had happened, Heero would have communicated it to Quatre and it would have been shared from there – but it was a good way of breaking the silence.

"Quiet," Heero replied. "Nothing to report."

"Good." Duo grabbed a chair and turned it around so he could sit backwards on it, resting his arms and head on the chair-back while he peered at Heero. "'Cause we should talk."

"Why."

"I don't know how you make simple questions sound like threats." Duo smirked. "Is that something ZERO taught you? Cattie does it, too."

Heero looked up from his laptop to glare. "Is there a point to this?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, there is." Duo's smirk was firmly in place. "I want to hear you say what went through your head back there."

"Be more specific," Heero said.

Duo's smirk deepened, but his eyes were growing darker as his tightly-controlled feelings began to rise. "At Foot HQ. We were all gonna die, all but you because you're _you_ , I guess."

Heero gave a short nod.

"Why'd you save Quatre?"

Heero tried to look away but he had too much stubbornness – or respect – to drop his eyes entirely. "You know why."

"Maybe I do, maybe I really don't. I want to hear you explain it." All the slump in Duo's posture was rigid now, his body as sharp as a weapon, as sharp as his eyes and his mind.

Heero's voice went particularly nasal and flat. "Would you rather I threw myself in to die with the rest of you? One final self-destruct?"

Duo shook his head. "Honestly? That's kind of what I'd expect you to do. But that's not what I'm asking about."

"I couldn't." Heero said it as if he didn't mean to say the words aloud.

"I know," Duo said, and his voice was soft. "I'm that way too. I wouldn't mind dying in a fight if that's what happened. But…life isn't just about killing anymore. We're part of something that means something. Letting myself die would be a…"

Heero finished, "A betrayal. A betrayal of what we've been given."

Duo nodded. "Plus." His eyes narrowed knowingly. "It would hurt Quatre to think you wanted to die again. You hate hurting Quatre."

Heero shrugged.

"And that's why you saved him," Duo continued, leaning forward so the chair began to tip slightly. "Even if it would have killed him to lose Trowa and Wubbie and me. You couldn't let him die."

"No. I couldn't. And I never will."

"Hmm." Duo feigned thoughtfulness for a moment, his focus never once leaving his expression. "Now we're getting somewhere, Hee-chan. As it happens, I agree with you." He tipped his head so he could stare at a white wall and forget it was his mouth that was speaking. "If it'd been me? I might have done the same thing."

Heero frowned. "Then why are you here pestering me?"

Duo shrugged, still staring off into the distance. "Because it's bugging you, you moron. And I can tell."

"I left you to die." Heero didn't need to explain more than that for Duo to hear what he really meant. To know why it had left him so unsettled.

To know that, while Heero could _not_ have abandoned Quatre, he could only barely stand that more than betraying Duo and Trowa and Wufei.

It would almost have been easier to die with them. Heero still wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't.

"Well, yeah." Duo shrugged. "But you also saved Quatre. And, let's face it. If somebody's getting out of something like that alive, we all need it to be him. God knows Trowa wouldn't last one second if something happened to Cattie with that bond they have."

Heero nodded.

"And I dunno what'd happen to Cat, but I'd like to think that as long as one of us was here, he'd pull it together. He still wouldn't be alone, you know?" Duo's eyes finally dropped to Heero. "Even if none of us can be what Tro is to him. Better than nothing."

Heero finally let out a breath; somehow, Duo had led him to understand his own actions. As usual. "Katoru is like Relena. Without him, all hope falls apart."

"But not just for the rest of the world. For us." Duo let out a breath. "He can fix the world, sure. But he fixes _us_. And we gotta keep that alive no matter what. 'Cause if we don't, what're we gonna have left?"

Heero made a tiny smile. "Put that way, it sounds…pathetic."

Duo huffed. "Yeah, well. We're not even codependent now," he said with another shrug. "We're crazily symbiotic."

And Duo locked eyes with Heero. They were both jolted by the awareness, the exquisite connection that bound them, that held them together. A connection that didn't always need to pass through Quatre anymore. As Wufei had privately predicted, they were all beginning to share something like Quatre's empathy. Even at its most basic, the new awareness was real and it was strong.

A moment later, Duo glanced out the viewing window down to the surgery below. Quatre had appeared at the door and was talking quietly to Trowa, head just peeking through enough for the blond hair to be washed out in the bright lights.

"He hates it," Heero said, following his gaze. "He hates that we would protect him because of this. Hates what that does to us."

"He doesn't hate it." Duo shook his head. "He feels sorry and guilty about it."

Heero shrugged.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter." Duo leaned against the console and tipped his chair once more. "It's past time for some payback. It's not like we don't owe him more than all four of us will ever be able to give him even if we live to see forty, and we probably won't."

"Everyone owes him," Heero answered. "The entire Earth Sphere."

"But not more than us."

Heero shook his head. "No. Not more than us."

"Good!" Duo bounced to his feet. "So, great. Nice talk, Hee-chan."

Before he'd moved a step, Heero's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. "Is that really what you wanted to talk about?"

Duo shrugged. "You made a call in the middle of battle. It was a good one. I'd have made it, too. Same for Poo-Fei and Trowa. But you were all…" He twisted one hand up in front of his chest. "Had to do something. You're learning that worrying-about-the-wrong-thing habit from Cat. You gotta stop that."

Heero felt a small smile, a real one, steal across his features. "Roger that."

-==OOO==-

Below, making his way down the corridor, Quatre sighed. Neither Heero nor Duo had been sending him anything specifically, but he had heard them regardless. Heard their feelings, their intents, and knew them well enough to practically know their words and movements and when they'd blinked.

_I wonder if they will feel so protective and loyal when they find out_.

-==OOO==-

Michelangelo was awake and he was very, very _BORED_.

He glanced to where Leo was sleeping on the nearby bed, utterly out of it. One thing Mikey had always admired about his eldest brother was his ability to sleep so lightly he'd wake to hear ants crawling halfway across the lair. But, the flip-side of that was that whenever he was pushed beyond what he could handle – physically or otherwise – he tended to sleep so deeply that nothing short of armageddon would get him up for at least six hours. This was clearly one of those times.

Whereas Mikey, on the other hand, slept less than any of his brothers except maybe Donnie, and that wasn't because Donnie didn't _need_ sleep so much as because Donnie _forgot to_ sleep on a regular basis. So, three hours of comfy naptime and Mikey was up again. And desperate for something to keep him from wondering if he only had two older brothers left.

_They'd have told us if something went wrong. And Don'll kill me if I go in bugging him right now_.

Unable to keep still or try to nap any longer, Mikey got to his feet and puttered around the room. It wasn't nice like a hotel or something – the building was some kind of lab-slash-hospital, so most of the available rooms looked like hospital rooms with rows of beds and curtains. But at the end of every room near the door was a computer terminal. Mikey ambled over.

_I bet Don could show me how to turn this thing inside out_ , he thought. _But even though he's…busy, well, at least I can mess around on the internet_.

For the next hour, Michelangelo learned a lot about the world of the G-boys, about the colonies, the Preventers organization they'd mentioned. He'd been startled to find out just how rich and powerful Quatre really was, but then, _duh_ – private research hospital emptied of however-many hundred employees and patients and civilians at the drop of a hat. Even worse was his startlement when he looked up the name "Heero Yuy" and it took him a good ten minutes to make absolutely sure that the shell-kicking kid he knew and the pacifist who had been assassinated were _not_ one and the same. Weird, though.

But that led him to searching about the Gundams.

Mikey quickly learned that certain things were just not public knowledge. Well, that was nothing new. Agent Bishop wasn't either, not because he was a bad guy, but because he was involved in secret stuff. Still, Mikey couldn't really find out much about his friends in conjunction with the Gundams at all – just that the Gundams were these ginormous robots with mysterious pilots who had changed the course of two wars several times.

At some point, he came upon a website that was sort of a mix of historical information and fannish squee. It was there that he found the most coherent information about the Gundams – their battles of note, their efforts for peace, even their most basic design specs. Mikey glanced appreciatively over the archived material; clearly, whoever the username J_B_Ace was knew what they were doing.

And there were links to shaky videos of some of the battles themselves, obviously recorded off the news or by witnesses. Once he started watching them, he couldn't stop himself.

_Shell_ …

"Michelangelo?"

"Gah!" Mikey jumped a foot into the air. "Who what where _huh_?"

"Calm yourself, my son." Splinter was standing at his elbow.

"Sensei! Is Raph…?" Mikey's throat squeezed closed.

Splinter looked as exhausted as Michelangelo had ever seen, but he managed a smile. "Yes. Raphael's recovery will be slow and painful, but he will have the time to recover. Doctor Po is very skilled, and between her efforts and Donatello's insight, they have corrected all the major wounds."

"Yeah, but his shell…"

Splinter ran a hand over Michelangelo's arm. "Once Doctor Po is assured all is healing well and has avoided infection, she intends to fit a thin metal cover over his shell to prevent further injury. The gaps and cracks in the shell itself will eventually close, though they will always be at risk to re-fracture."

Mikey nodded. He knew that their shells mostly recovered from injury given enough time – the shells were always being reinforced with calcium and other things Don had muttered about at one point but Mikey hadn't really been listening. Unless a chunk actually came off. He had a ding by his left hip from a bad fall as a kid that was still as annoying as the day he'd landed wrong on it.

"So…it's all going to be okay?"

Splinter smiled gently at his youngest son and wrapped his arms around him. "We owe our friends a debt we may never be able to repay. If not for the facilities and drugs and equipment – and the help of Doctor Po – I fear it would not. But yes. Raphael will have a difficult period, but he will be well in time."

Mikey slumped against his father, unsurprised and unashamed to find a few tears of relief leaking onto his face.

"Now, Donatello is resting in the room with Raphael to watch over him, and Doctor Po remains in attendance. But I am quite fatigued. Will you be all right if I retire?" Splinter squeezed his son once before backing up enough to meet his eyes.

Mikey gave him a watery grin and a thumbs-up sign. "If Raph's okay, then yeah. I'll be fine. If I need anything, I can just go into the hall and yell for one of the guys, right?"

Splinter chuckled. "As long as you do it a bit away from the door behind which I am sleeping, yes."

"Is there a kitchen around here?" Mikey asked. "I could go make something."

"I think it will be a few hours yet before anyone will be ready to eat, but I am sure we would all be grateful for your work if you wished to be prepared." Splinter patted Mikey once more on the shoulder and then moved off into the room, settling on the bed between Leonardo and the door. His eyes closed and he seemed to drop straight into sleep.

_Even exhausted, spending hours in surgery, and he's still protecting us when we're vulnerable_ , Mikey thought.

Creeping with the silent skill taught to him since infancy, Mikey scooped up an extra blanket from one of the unused beds and laid it over his father gently. Then he repeated the process with Leo.

_Take it easy, guys. I'll take a shift_. He headed out into the facility to make himself useful.


	10. Something Like A Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a lot to say – just see you next week for all the excitement!
> 
> Enjoy!

Two days later, Sally found a tiny infection in one of Raph's deeper wounds, but she was able to clean it out in a matter of hours. She and Donatello were immensely relieved that Raph had otherwise avoided any greater infections or complications thus far – it meant they could begin preparing to fit him with a cover to protect his healing, weakened shell.

"When will he wake up?" Leo asked when everyone gathered outside the doors to the room that was filled with equipment and the sound of Raph breathing. Master Splinter and Heero were taking a shift in the room now that Sally had chased Don out to sleep again.

"Right now, we're not keeping him medically sedated." Sally ran a hand over her brow. "Whatever Quatre did to him, it's more than sufficient to keep him under. I recommend we keep him that way for at least a few more days." She smiled tiredly. "Honestly, he's healing at a remarkable rate."

"Donatello had suggested the turtles all have advanced recuperative abilities," Wufei said.

She nodded. "If Raphael were human, he'd be in bed for weeks before he could even think about sitting up. At this rate, he may be on his feet and ready for physical therapy within a month."

"So when are you going to wake him up?" Mikey turned to Quatre with the question.

Quatre glanced to Sally. "I think after we fit him for the shell cover. That process could be very painful. We don't want to stress him unnecessarily."

"He'd want to be awake for it, though," Leo said. "He would want to have some say over it."

"Okay, then. Compromise. Wake him up before the fitting, but put him back under for the actual process," Sally suggested. Then she put a hand on Quatre's shoulder. "I wish I could have you around for all my emergency surgeries. The fact that we haven't had to flood his body with suppressants means he's not trying to fight infection and injury as well as drugs. It's a lot easier on his system."

Quatre shrugged wordlessly. A minute or two later he excused himself to see to something vague.

Sally also excused herself. "I'm going to get back in there and take a few more measurements for the shield. I want it to be precise down to the micrometer if I can."

Leo and Mikey stared slightly awkwardly at Duo, Trowa, and Wufei. In the immediate aftermath of the battle and Raph's injury, the turtles had been happy to work with the Gundams. But two days of tension and silence and fear had almost reduced them to near-strangerhood again.

"Come on," Duo said suddenly. "Let's see if we can talk Rashid into ordering us something for dinner that isn't all veggies this time."

Mikey brightened. "I could really go for a pizza right now."

Duo smiled. "Meat-lover's?"

"With emphasis on the sausage and beef!"

Duo started to stride away, planning an increasingly elaborate pizza order with Michelangelo. They were just at the stairway access when Leo called after them, "Be careful, Mikey."

Mikey waved at him irritably and rolled his eyes, pulling the door closed before Leo could say anything else.

"Rashid will not harm your brother," Wufei said. "He is worthy of trust. Hasn't he proven that so far?"

Leo looked away with a scowl.

It was Trowa who said, "You don't trust us. That's why you don't trust Rashid."

Leonardo really didn't want to have this conversation, and even less did he want to have it right outside Raphael's sickroom within range of his father's legendary hearing. He stalked towards the other hallway, gesturing impatiently for Wufei and Trowa to follow. Down a flight of stairs and a few corridors over he led them to one of the building's big cafeterias. With two days of nothing to do in a huge, empty building, Leo and Mikey had shoved all the tables and chairs to one side to make a nice clear place to work off steam.

"Let's get one thing straight," Leo said as soon as the doors were closed. "Whether or not I trust you doesn't matter compared to what you all are doing for Raph. Okay? My feelings don't matter if it means he's okay."

Trowa smiled at him knowingly. "No. Your feelings matter even more _because_ of what we are doing for your brother. You could hate us if we weren't responsible for saving his life."

"You are not without reason," Wufei told him, crossing his arms. "We misled you more than once, kept certain truths from you, and in the end we drugged you and your brothers to commit an act you deem dishonorable."

Leo considered challenging Wufei to a hand-to-hand duel right then and there – he certainly could use something else to think about. But he owed the Gundams too much not to answer, so he said, "It _was_ dishonorable."

"Maybe." Wufei shrugged. "But that doesn't mean we were wrong to try to execute her."

Leo's anger swept through him. "Killing her is unnecessary! Unless it's in the heat of a battle and she goes down fairly, you can't just take her out like that. It's wrong!"

Wufei's expression went remote and cold. "Let me tell you about _wrong_ , Hamato Leonardo." His black eyes burned into Leo's. " _Wrong_ is people dying in battles that never should have begun. _Wrong_ is an entire colony of people choosing to self-destruct rather than bend to an unjust authority. _Wrong_ is good soldiers murdering one another because they are on different sides of a war."

Trowa stepped tight to Wufei's side. "Like it or not, Karai is a danger to your world. She is driven by vengeance and a loyalty to someone who would burn every living thing on Earth to ashes given the chance. And whether killing her is dishonorable or not, letting her live to do that is unacceptable."

"Your war with the Shredder was a small battle of tiny forces." Wufei's voice was sharp. "Your world has already faced an alien invasion and a demonic one. And yet you are too kind to see that for as long as Karai lives, you risk another war on that scale."

"Expediency is not always honorable or fair," Trowa said quietly, "but to protect the innocent, it may be necessary."

"That is the decision we made, the five of us, in order to survive our own wars," Wufei finished. "We will sacrifice our own honor and our feelings if that it what it takes to prevent good people from the horrors of war." He finally looked away. "How many children would learn to fight, to kill and die, if we did not eliminate the threats to them? How many families would rather pass into death than fall into the hands of madmen and dictators?"

"But Karai is..." Leo began.

"The fact that you have feelings for her does not make her any less of a threat!" Wufei shouted, his face curling into a sneer which melted quickly. "You are kind to want to spare her life. We understand that." He took a deep breath. "I killed a good man once, too. A man who was wrong about many things but who was honorable. Who spared me when I did not deserve it. Who revered life and honor and humanity. And I killed him."

And finally Leonardo understood. His voice fell to a rough whisper. "It's not that you don't think Karai could be changed. It's that...you won't risk being wrong. You won't risk her endangering people if you fail. That's why you wanted Quatre to read her before you killed her. To be as sure as possible."

Trowa nodded. "And he's still not sure. Even now, he's not sure. It's the reason she's still alive."

"He has some kind of idea," Wufei said. "We don't know what. He won't tell us. But he has a plan, a last try before we take her life." He finally looked up into Leo's eyes again. "If he fails, can you finally understand why we will kill her? Even though it's dishonorable? Because to let her threaten your world is far, far worse."

Leo nodded shakily. "We eliminated the Shredder. Twice. Two different Shredders. For that very reason. I just...Karai's always been different to me."

"And that," came Donnie's voice as he entered the room, "is what Raph's been trying to tell you. That she's different to _you_ , but she might not be different _enough_."

Leo turned to his brother. "I know. I've always known that. I just..." He gulped. "I hate it."

"Because you see yourself in her," Don said. He approached slowly and put an arm around Leo's shoulders. "You don't want to see it in her because you don't want to admit it's in you, too."

Leo couldn't look at the knowing Gundam pilots so he turned his face to his brother's plastron. "She and I...we've always been so alike. Dedicated to our duty. Our family."

"But you chose honor, Leo." Don spoke softly and tightened his grip. "You've always chosen honor. You chose to protect people, no matter what. And you would never choose anything else."

"Are you...can you be so sure?"

"Dude." Don huffed a laugh and nudged him. "Take it as a scientific certainty."

Leo sighed. "Isn't that giving me too much credit?"

"That, at least," Wufei's tone was oddly warm, "is a battle we share. Honor is a sword that cuts both ways, and fear that you might lose your way upon its path is reasonable, even noble. But whether or not you suffer fear or doubt, there is no justice if you allow a sword to strike the innocent when you stand as their shield."

"And that's why you wanted to keep us away," Leo said quietly. "So I could keep my honor, not have to reconcile myself with Karai. Not be faced with the choice." He huffed and smiled slightly. "You were trying to be kind to me and I messed it up."

"To be fair," Trowa said, "if you hadn't been there, Ultimate Drako might have killed us all. So we've forgiven you."

Leo heard the wry humor behind the words and nodded. Then he turned to Wufei and bowed low. "I understand better now. I'm...I'm sorry, but I still don't want her to die. But if you have to kill her, if you have to save my world and my family that way...I understand."

"Excellent," Donnie said, grinning when Leo rose. "Raph will be thrilled to hear it."

-==OOO==-

Over the course of the next ten days, Raph was more awake than asleep to the great relief of his family. He was extra cranky, way beyond his usual gruff irritation with being bedridden after an injury, which his family – and Quatre, probably – understood to be based in his real fear about the extent of the damage to his body. But as the days continued and the swelling around his various wounds retreated, he regained more and more feeling in his extremities. What had begun as a concern about paralysis ended with great consternation from all sides about how soon Raph wanted to be up and moving around again.

The forging of Raph's shell shield ended up taking many hands – not because it required input, but because it seemed everyone wanted to have a part in it. Quatre had arranged for a small supply of Gundanium to be made available, and with the skill of those who had built and rebuilt their own Gundams more than once, the five of them took turns carefully shaping it; they did not invite the Maganacs to participate, quietly agreeing that this was meant only for themselves. Leonardo and Michelangelo and Donatello also added their opinions about how it would be most comfortable for Raph to carry, and Don himself crafted the harness that would hold it on. Master Splinter went over every square inch of it every day with his most critical eye for any possible imperfections.

When it was done, it was a shining piece so dark green it could be confused for black, form fitted to Raph's damaged shell as if poured over it.

"So," Mikey asked as they brought it to Raph for one final inspection before its first fitting, "since it's made of Gundanium, does this make him an honorary Gundam?"

He meant it as a joke, but the five Gundams exchanged glances. Finally, Heero looked up and nodded once, sharply. "He would have died for our sake."

"Wow." Sally smirked. "I fought in the wars with these guys and they've never said anything that nice about me."

Wufei rolled his eyes and said something rude under his breath in Chinese which made her laugh.

"So." Raph looked up eagerly from the hospital bed he had hated since the second minute he had been awake in it. "How soon do I get to put that thing on and start kicking shell as again?" He'd progressed to sitting up on his own.

Splinter pinned him with a look. "When you can stand without assistance, only then will we begin to help you recover your strength."

Raph was ready to grumble, but he caught a fierce glare levied his way by almost everyone in the room and settled back with an aggrieved sigh.

Of course, Don knew and Leo knew (which meant Mikey and Master Splinter probably also knew because Leo was awful at keeping secrets), and Quatre knew (which meant the Gundams all knew too), that Raph had been trying to get out of bed for the last two days – and twice had had to be hauled back into bed when he collapsed and couldn't pull himself up without help. Nobody was surprised, of course. Actually, the only person who probably _didn't_ know about his ill-advised attempts was Doctor Po.

Raph figured if he could get up by himself before she figured it out, he would be spared at least one lecture. But probably only that one.

Quatre's head shot up unexpectedly and an instant later a loud alarm began to sound.

"What is it?" Leo asked, drawing his swords instinctively.

Quatre sprinted to the intercom on the nearest wall and hit the button. "Rashid! What's going on?"

"Master Quatre, the satellite system you left running has identified the woman called Karai. She is here on L1."

"And if Karai is here," Wufei began.

"Ultimate Drako can't be far behind," Don finished.

"What are we gonna do?" Mikey asked, fingers gripping the batons of his nunchaku nervously.

"Karai and Ultimate Drako have come to our world," Heero said, his voice going cold and his eyes burning. "They will _not_ be permitted to harm the Earth or the colonies."

"But what can we do against them?" Duo wanted to know. "We can't drop a Gundam on them this time."

"We've been working on that," Quatre said, exchanging a glance with Donatello. "We've got, well, less a plan and more generally an idea."

"Quatre, your ideas are better than most people's well-thought-out strategies," Heero said impatiently. "What are your orders?"

Don looked to his brothers and then caught Quatre's eye. "It's all we can do," he said. He was proud that his voice didn't shake at all when he said it.

Quatre nodded. "We fight them with the only weapons we have. Swords and guns will not save us from the Time Scepter, but that's not what we're planning on using."

"Quatre," Trowa growled, not liking _one bit_ what he was getting through their connection. "What aren't you telling us?"

"You all can handle Karai. It's Ultimate Drako who is the problem. And to combat it, we have to use the only tools strong enough to withstand his powers." Quatre sighed and closed his eyes. "I have my empathy and Donatello has his interdimensional portal stick. And if we combine those things with ZERO, we might just stand a chance."

After the initial silence that met Quatre's pronouncement, Trowa seized Quatre's hand and physically pulled him out the door. Quatre made no attempt to resist and allowed himself to be led around the corner and away from the others.

"Quatre," Trowa breathed his name. He was almost vibrating with tension.

"I know, love," Quatre said, squeezing the hand that gripped his. "I know, but I…"

"No, Quatre." Trowa's eyes fell closed. Using their linked hands, he maneuvered Quatre until the blond's back was to the wall where Trowa could press them together. Trowa bent his head and rested his forehead against Quatre's. With their bodies aligned, there was no room for doubt or hiding from within their connection. "Tell me the truth."

"Trowa…" Quatre's voice was a whisper but his heart was thudding in his chest.

Trowa said nothing for a moment, letting his emotions speak for him. He was usually content to remain in the background, to watch over Quatre and care for him but to stand aside when it was the Arab's time to shine – be it in battle or a boardroom. Trowa had no objection to being Quatre's silent shadow in the eyes of any who weren't clever enough to see the truth. But that silence, while maintained in hostile territory or to preserve a façade, was only that – a façade. Between them, Trowa might be patient enough to wait for Quatre to be honest, but he would never allow his husband to keep secrets of any magnitude forever. Especially not when there was so much Trowa could tell Quatre had not been saying in the last two weeks.

Under that insistent, loving _need_ to understand, Quatre buckled. "All right, Trowa. What do you want to know?"

"Start with this plan about ZERO and work out from there."

Quatre sighed, his breath ruffling their entwined hair. "Ultimate Drako doesn't have any innate power according to Donatello and Master Splinter. All his magic comes from the Time Scepter. If we can get it away from him, or break his control over it, we'll be able to defeat him. And the portal stick seems like the right instrument to do that."

"Then why not just aim the portal stick at the Scepter and take it out?" Trowa asked. "Why do you need to be involved with ZERO again?"

"There's no guarantee something like that would work."

"Isn't it worth trying? _Before_ you go back into that system?"

Quatre sighed and shook his head.

"When we were in the Nexus, the War Staff reacted to my empathy. I was able to control it, at least a little. Or maybe I asked it for help; that might be closer to the truth. Anyway. We need not just to separate Ultimate Drako from the Scepter – we need keep him from using it against us until we can subdue him. And I might be able to do that by neutralizing the Scepter directly. But…"

"You'd have to interface with the portal stick directly, and ZERO is the means," Trowa finished.

"Exactly."

"I will let you propose your plan without shooting it down right this second under one condition." Trowa nudged the forehead pressed to his own, his voice soft. "You have to tell me what really happened in the Nexus."

Quatre could have prevaricated, but they both knew it would be ultimately useless. While Quatre could communicate with and read each of the Gundams acutely, Trowa could do the same for him because of the intimacy of their connection – particularly when in close physical contact. Quatre might be able to hide a fleeting emotion from his husband, but anything significant would echo across their bond like a siren going off. Even Heero, closer to Quatre's heart than the remaining two, knew something was profoundly disturbing their empath – but only Trowa could truly guess at how deep it ran.

Trowa knew something had shaken Quatre to the core, something that did not let up even weeks later. And whatever it was, Quatre could not prepare for this confrontation with Karai and Ultimate Drako with it coursing through him like acid.

"We don't have time…" Quatre tried, and the poor excuse alarmed Trowa as much as the secrecy had.

" _Make_ time. The others will be preparing what we need already."

Trowa could feel Quatre's defenses give way with an intense release of pressure. The words came, but the emotions in front of them came too, pouring into Trowa from behind the walls Quatre had held so tightly for far too long. Walls that only now Trowa realized were _miles_ thick to be concealing so much from them all.

"When I touched the War Staff, I saw our future, Trowa. I saw…Allah, Trowa…you can't imagine it. We…we _hated_ each other. All of us. And…we were…what we were _doing_ … Wufei had sworn a blood feud to destroy us all. Duo had lost himself to Shinigami and was going around killing for the joy of it. Heero had murdered Relena and was moving onto anyone she ever came into contact with. And…it was _all my fault_."

Trowa reeled from it – the feelings were so strong Quatre was practically sending him images. Images of colonies destroyed, of Wufei's hate, Duo's madness, Heero's emptiness.

Wait.

"What happened to us, love?" Trowa whispered as much with his heart as his lips. "Where are we in your vision?"

Quatre's answer left him shaking against Trowa, his heart screaming.

"It was…it was because of me. I…I went insane again. Like ZERO. And you died…you died to kill me. You _hated_ me and you _killed_ me and you _died_."

And Trowa could _feel_ it. Could feel his own hate, his own desperate desire to kill Quatre, not just to save the innocent from his evil, but because he wanted nothing better than Quatre's blood bathing his hands. Could feel a sick glee at taking Quatre's life and feeding his own to the flames. Could feel himself laughing as he burned in the wreckage of Quatre's body.

Quatre was still talking, the words breaking from him like sobs.

"It was my fault. And our connection. I…I poisoned us all. I don't know how it happened. How it _will_ happen. Allah save me, it's our _future_ , Trowa."

Trowa wrestled himself away from Quatre's panic. "No. I refuse to believe that."

Quatre was cringing away from him, his arms up and holding himself, his shoulders high and curved inward. It was only the strength of Quatre's soul that kept him from collapsing in a breakdown of astronomical proportions.

Trowa understood, then, Quatre's odd distance. His conversation with Donatello on the New York City rooftop, which Heero had recorded and played for Trowa in a quiet moment. His flashes of doubt and shame and sorrow that had come and gone too quickly for Trowa to pin down. His avoidance of all but the most casual of physical contact between them.

Quatre had been, quietly, without dropping more than the slightest hints, trapped in an emotional feedback loop as profound as any of ZERO's hallucinations _for weeks_.

Trowa grabbed Quatre's shoulders and pulled him into his arms with a strength that bruised. "I _refuse_ to believe it, Quatre. _It will not happen_."

"You can't know that!"

" _Neither can you!_ "

Trowa's anger surprised them both. It brought Quatre up short, and he actually looked into Trowa's eyes, his own wet and dead – the light in them extinguished by despair he had not allowed himself to acknowledge for fear of spreading it to those who shared his heart.

"Trowa, I saw it!"

Trowa shook his head. "I don't know what you saw, love, but that is _not_ our future. It _cannot_ be."

Quatre's face twisted. "Why not? It's already happened once!"

"Quatre. I am not dead. You did not kill me." He followed the words with a push through their connection, a push of certainty and love and trust. It was a little weak given that he was still being bombarded by the horrors in Quatre's heart. But it broke through.

"No. I know that." Quatre's panic retreated slightly. "But…I'm a danger to you all. More than ever. That evil…it will come from me. I…I will infect you all…and destroy the world and everything we've ever believed in."

"You won't."

"But I –!"

Trowa tightened his arms, squeezing the breath from Quatre. "I _don't care_ what you saw," he whispered fiercely. " _I do not believe it_."

And suddenly Trowa's mind made a leap. "Quatre. You saw all this while Karai was holding the Staff, didn't you? Karai, who is _filled with evil_."

Quatre froze.

Trowa pushed on into the momentary gap in Quatre's defenses. "I accept that the War Staff may have the ability to show a _potential_ future. But with the both of you touching it at once, isn't it possible her demonic energy influenced what you saw? Isn't it more likely that evil came from _her_ and not _you_?"

Trowa adjusted his hold on his husband, embracing him and cradling his head against his shoulder. "And the only reason you didn't think of that yourself was because this is your greatest fear. You never have been rational when it comes to your own guilt. Or us."

Quatre was shaking badly, but the panic in his heart was starting to recede. Trowa could feel it happening, could feel Quatre's brain seizing onto his words and pushing them into his heart, slowly taking control away from fear and putting it back into the hands of his true spirit.

"Quatre," Trowa whispered. "What did you tell Donatello about fearing the future?"

Quatre repeated the words barely enough to be heard. "If I let doubt creep into my decisions, someday I really will kill everything I love."

"Don't let this take you away from me," Trowa pleaded, his own heart aching. "The War Staff…when you were holding it…I felt you slipping away. I finally know why. And I _won't_ let it happen, Quatre. I won't let your fear destroy everything we've created."

Quatre shifted in his arms, finally reaching up to cling just as tightly to Trowa. "Don't let me, Trowa. _Please_ don't let me…"

"I won't," Trowa whispered. "I believe in you."

And Trowa's love, pure and strong and tested and true, poured like sunlight into the dark pain that had bound Quatre for so long. Quatre cried out in relief as warmth banished the ice that had grown where love and trust should be.

_I'm afraid of myself._

_I'm not afraid of you._

_I love you so much. It would kill me to…_

_But you won't. You won't. It will not happen to any of us._

_How can you be so sure?_

_Because there is no evil in your heart. Even if you see it there, even if you fear it. It's not real._

_Then what is it?_

_Something just as dangerous. Your guilt and uncertainty and doubt. Your terror to become what your worst imagination can devise. But you never will._

_You won't let me._

_You won't let _ _yourself_ _. And I would wager myself and the others and the Earth and colonies on it. And we would all be safe because you will_ _keep_ _us safe._

_I…I will try._

_And that is enough. Enough for us all. We trust you. We love you. I love you._

_I love you, too._

-==OOO==-

"How is this even gonna work?" Duo asked tensely. "Assuming you can even hook ZERO into that crazy portal-opening-for-no-mechanically-viable-reason flashlight, the closest ZERO is installed in Wing Zero on a different colony."

Don rubbed his beak awkwardly. "Uh, I'm not sure, but I think maybe Quatre downloaded it already?"

Wufei clenched his fists. "Winner…you've gone too far this time."

"What is this ZERO and what the shell is up with you guys?" Raph asked, feeling his chest constrict with something that had nothing to do with his injuries. If the _Gundams_ were this worried…

It was Sally who answered. "ZERO is a computer system used in the wars to enhance a pilot's brainwaves in order to achieve ultimate victory in mobile suit battles. It was installed in several different mobile suits and…" she glanced at Heero and finished with, "for those pilots it didn't drive insane, made them unstoppable."

"Quatre mentioned it once before," Leo said, remembering. "He mentioned something about it before leaving for Foot Headquarters."

"Quatre is one of only four people to be able to use ZERO without losing his mind," Duo said. "And I wouldn't be so sure about the fourth one. She was sorta crazy to start with, though."

"But I don't understand." Sally looked to Wufei. "How could Quatre get ZERO here?"

"Horus," Wufei said. "Winner must have copied the program into the Horus network during the events of the Surd attack. Just in case he ever wanted to use it again."

"So…how come it's such a bad idea?" Mikey wanted to know. "'Cause it kinda sounds like a great plan to me. If this thing makes him kick shell more than usual, I mean."

The three remaining Gundams looked away and refused to answer.

Splinter coughed delicately. "We may not have time to argue the merits of this plan. Circumstances are moving quickly and we must move with them."

"He's right," Leo said. "Karai's already here. Ultimate Drako can't be far behind. We've got to be ready."

Suddenly Heero shot a look to Wufei and Duo and abruptly banged out the door after Trowa and Quatre.

Wufei spoke before anyone could ask. "Let us focus on a different problem. Even if this portal stick of yours can do something to Time Scepter, how will we stop Ultimate Drako and Karai themselves from doing great harm to the colony?"

"The Time Scepter is Drako's only source of power," Don said. "Take it away and he's still big and strong and a good fighter, but that's all the magic he has going for him."

"And what about Karai's little light trick?" Raph asked. "She's still got all that demonic stuff floating around inside her."

"Leave Karai's evil to me," Splinter said. As the others all looked at him, he sighed solemnly. "It was I who taught her to absorb such energies. I never realized they would remain within her and pose a later danger to one sensitive to them. It is my responsibility to remove them."

Wufei nodded to him. "Yes, it is." Belatedly, he added, "Splinter-laoshi."

"So, basically," Leo turned back to Don, "if Splinter takes away Karai's demonic stuff – which, by the way, only seems to hurt Quatre for now but who knows what else she could do with it? – and you and he can handle the Time Scepter with the portal stick and that ZERO thing they're talking about, that leaves the rest of us to take Karai and Ultimate Drako down directly."

"Not all of us." Duo shook his head. "One of us has to stay with him." He pointed at Raph.

Wufei nodded. "Maxwell is correct. We gave our word to defend him."

"I don't think so, bub!" Raph's anger had lost no sharpness with his injury. "I ain't keeping anybody behind to babysit me. You guys are putting me in that thing," he jabbed a finger at the shell shield, "and I am comin' with you!"

Almost every voice in the room became raised in objection in a cacophony of shouting. But Raph ignored them all and swung his legs to the ground, pushing himself off the bed. He wobbled for an instant, but drew himself upright with a stubborn effort.

Suddenly Sally was in front of him, looking into his eyes carefully. Her silent inspection stopped the other objections.

"What do you say, doc?" Raph asked. "Give me something to keep me from feeling every step and I'll be fine. Just let me out of here this once and then I'll lie around and be lazy for a whole month if you want."

"It's not a good idea," Sally said. "But I don't think I can stop you." She sighed. "Duo, how long was it between when Heero self-destructed and when he fought Zechs in Antarctica?"

"Six weeks, I think," Duo answered.

"You've only had two." Sally looked at Raph critically. "On the other hand, you heal even quicker than Heero does. And you've had _actual_ medical care, not just lounging about on somebody's couch for a month hoping the body would knit itself back together."

Duo leaped to Trowa's defense in his absence. "Hey, Trowa gave him soup!"

"I'm underwhelmed." Sally rolled her eyes at him before returning her gaze to Raphael. "Here's the truth. You can obviously stand. The shield is light enough for you to carry, and it will actually hold your shell together better than the bandages you've got on now. Because of the nature of your body's structure, there is less possibility for you to bend or twist in such a way that you will break open the sealant I put inside you to hold you together than if you were human."

"But?" Leo asked.

"But there's still a chance you'll move wrong, or just extend something too far, and then you'd be bleeding internally again. And your inframarginal scutes are still weakened. If you got crushed again, they might collapse. Then we wouldn't just be looking at bleeding – your organs themselves could be smashed between your shell and your plastron if those scutes give way."

"Raph." Don held out his hands. "It's just not a good idea. We barely saved you last time."

Raphael turned to Dontello and his face softened. "Donnie, I know that. I know I'm lucky as shell to be alive right now, and I know it's because of you that we ever got here for the doc to do her magic. I'm not throwin' that away now."

But he looked up and met Sally's eyes unflinchingly. "And I'm _also_ not sending my family in to handle that pair of whack-jobs without me. Even if I don't throw a single punch, I _have_ to be there."

"Raphael." Master Splinter's voice hit the air like a blow. Sally stepped aside for the rat to face his son.

"Sensei." Raph tried to face him squarely. He knew he would only get one shot at this.

"Your forbearance and loyalty do you great honor, my son." Splinter looked at him critically. "If I ask you to give me a vow, will you uphold it?"

"Yes, Master Splinter."

Splinter nodded. "I fear for your well-being as well, my son. But my heart tells me I cannot ask you to remain behind when we face such danger. So I offer you this compromise – and you will abide by it or you will remain here sedated and under guard. Do you understand me, Hamato Raphael?"

Raph nodded. "Yes, sensei."

"Then you may accompany us. You will never stray more than the length of my tail from my side, however. And while I battle the demon within Karai, you will stand watch over me. No matter the plight of your brothers, you will remain at my side."

Leo could understand his father's reasoning. With Raph within reach of Master Splinter at all times, not only would he not be able to get into the thick of the battle unless it went so badly it didn't matter if they were risking lives anymore, but Master Splinter would also be able to defend Raph if he were unable to do so himself. It would be torture for Raph to watch his brothers fight Ultimate Drako and Karai without leaping to help, but at least he would be in the safest place on the battlefield they could design.

Raph bowed his head. "I give you my word, father. I will not let you down."

Splinter nodded sharply. "I trust in that, my son." He turned to Sally. "Doctor Po, if you would be so kind as to fit my son with his armor, we have much work to do."

-==OOO==-

In the hallway, Heero listened with half an ear to the conversation he had abandoned, but most of his attention was forward on Quatre and Trowa. He hadn't _quite_ been forced to Quatre's side to stop whatever that pain and fear was that burned and scraped at his soul through their connection – but it was a nearer thing than any of his brushes with death in either Eve war. That was why he was there in the hall, ready to step in if Trowa faltered, ready to face down those inner evils plaguing Quatre himself if it would save him.

And it wasn't because he knew he needed Quatre clear-headed and strong to win this battle.

_I would fight to the death to defend this colony from any enemies, including Karai and Ultimate Drako…but I do not want to know if I would watch the colony burn to save Quatre._

-==OOO==-

Within fifteen minutes of fitting Raphael into the Gundanium shield, he was down in the cafeteria with Master Splinter and Michelangelo, carefully working through a few moves to check his stamina and mobility. Wufei and Sally had vanished to put in a call to Preventers – they needed to evacuate as many people as possible from the colony nodule. Duo had run off to find Rashid and brief the Maganacs on what they might be facing if they joined the fight against Ultimate Drako and to get more eyes on the problem.

Which left Leonardo standing over Don's shoulder, watching him fidget with the portal stick.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Leo finally asked.

Don looked up at him, face creased. "No! Of _course_ I'm not sure this is going to work!"

Leo took a step back in surprise. "Donnie…"

Donatello sighed. "Look. Obviously we can at least drive Ultimate Drako away because he already showed up in the lair once before. But…I have no idea how this ends for anybody but us."

"Anybody but us?" Leo asked.

"When Drako showed up in the lair, he didn't say anything about having already defeated us. And, believe me, if he'd killed even one of us in his past but our future, you can bet he'd tell us all about it. And if he'd killed all of us here in the future, he wouldn't have bothered to go back to the past." Don had a private fear about that, but he continued anyway, "He didn't mention this fight at all. Which I think means it doesn't go well for him. So I think the five of us must get out okay."

Leo nodded, suddenly understanding. "But there's no telling what happens to our Gundam friends or to their world."

"Exactly. Just because he didn't mention it doesn't mean they come through this okay. And if this ZERO program fries Quatre's brain and the portal stick or something, he might not even have noticed." Don closed his eyes.

Leo patted his shoulder. "You can do this. I know you can. You always pull through for us."

"Yeah." Don grunted, sounding suspiciously like a grumpy Raph.

Leo's eyes narrowed. "Don't you trust yourself?"

"Honestly? Right now? Not really." Don shook his head. "And I kind of wish you didn't, either."

"Well, I do trust you. I'm trusting you to be there when we need you and to do what you do to help us get through. Just like you trust me to do the same." Leo's voice was soft but firm. "Continue to trust me, Don. Even if you can't trust yourself. Trust me to know that I can rely on you for all our sakes."

Donatello sighed and opened his eyes. "I'll try, Leo."

Leo smiled at him. "That's good enough for me, bro. It always has been."

-==OOO==-

Sally was coordinating with Preventers to get the colony evacuated to the rest of the L1 cluster when Wufei, who had been monitoring Horus, swore and leaped to his feet.

Sally turned. "What is it?"

"We have no more time to delay." Wufei's eyes were narrowed with what Sally recognized as barely-controlled rage. "Karai has penetrated the secure areas around the power supply for L1."

"How did she get there? How did she even know to go there?" Sally wanted to know.

"Ten minutes ago, she vanished into an area that is still under construction. The colony's plans would have been made available to them to ensure the workers did not disrupt the power supply." His scowl darkened. "I also fear there may be casualties on the site – no one has emerged since she entered."

"The colony isn't even halfway evacuated yet," Sally said. "It'll be another hour to get the rest of the people to safety."

"It doesn't matter." Wufei shook his head. "From the main power station, Karai can trigger a detonation. L1 is one of the tightest clusters. If she self-destructs this entire colony, it may trigger a chain-reaction to the nearby neighbor colonies."

"How much time do we have?" Sally was on her feet.

"I estimate she can initiate the sequence within thirty minutes. We _must_ stop her."

Wufei hit the button for the intercom to the rest of the building. "This is Chang. We must go after Karai _now_. Drop whatever you are doing this instant. I will be leaving the building in ninety seconds. If you are not with me, find your own way." He flicked the intercom off.

Wufei turned and strode through the door, Sally following him. The Maganacs were scrambling to assemble, shouting to one another in the hallways in which they had taken up residence – a few floors from where the turtles had spent most of their time, but close enough to help in an emergency.

"What are we going to do?" Sally asked.

Wufei shook his head, increasing his speed to the nearest elevator. "It doesn't matter. Either we will have a plan for that monster when he arrives or we will not, but even if it means we go in blind, we have to go now."

"Yeah, I know that." Sally jogged to keep up with him. "But _what_ are we going to do?"

The elevator opened, revealing Quatre, Trowa, and Heero. Quatre's face was as pale as Wufei had ever seen, but his eyes were diamond-hard. He raised his chin and spoke with a ringing authority.

"We're going to stop Karai and save the colony by any means necessary."

Heero finished. "Mission accepted."

On the ground floor, Duo came running with the turtles and Master Splinter in his wake. The Maganacs were spilling out of the stairwells and other elevators as well. The turtles froze for an instant as dozens of strangers turned to them, but Quatre and Rashid had briefed them upon arrival and the Maganacs had a lot more on their minds than mutant turtles. One or two might have stared for a moment, but most were too busy worrying about the situation.

Besides, their Master Quatre had given orders to protect and respect the turtles, and there wasn't a Maganac alive who would ever disobey him in anything – other than an order to abandon him to death, of course.

Rashid was bellowing orders, sending men to their transports at top speed to set off for the main power terminal.

"You should evacuate, too," Quatre said, sprinting at his side. "You and the others should clear out safely and take as many civilians with you as you can."

"No, Master Quatre." Rashid never even broke stride. "You are here, and we will stay with you until the end. Besides, we cannot save nearly enough lives if we flee. We may save more if we help."

Quatre nodded sharply, too busy to express his gratitude. Instead, he darted to the head of the column and raised a hand. The Maganacs fell silent to a man.

"You all know where the power terminal is. Get there by any means necessary. Karai may not be alone. If you see the creature known as Ultimate Drako, don't engage unless you have no choice. Your priority is to secure the safety of the colony. If you can, leave Karai and Drako to us."

"Yes, Master Quatre!" came the resounding response.

Quatre gestured to the Gundams and turtles. "Come with me. I had this brought in, just in case." He turned down a corridor and made for a different door than the main one where Rashid was funneling his people. Quatre hit a stairwell and hopped the railing, dropping to the landing below. Everyone, even Sally Po, followed easily. Around one more corner, Quatre led the group to an underground parking garage.

Sally stopped as soon as she saw what they were approaching hidden back in the shadows. "Quatre, is that…a mobile armor unit?"

"No." Quatre shook his head. "It's a personal conveyance. On paper, anyway."

But it certainly _looked_ more like one of the underwater Cancer Mobile Suits than anything else. It was a sort of hybrid between a jet and a mobile armor, capable of atmospheric or space flight. It didn't have any obvious weapons on it, but it was solid and clearly built with the same precision and defensive technology as the Gundams Sally knew all too well.

"From what Wufei said was Karai's last known position, we have approximately eight minutes to get ahead of her," Trowa said. "This is the fastest means to do that."

"Even we can't get all the way across the colony to the power station in eight minutes, no matter how fast that thing is." Sally shook her head.

"If Duo pilots, we can," Heero said.

Sally winced. "God help me, you're right."

Duo grinned manically and doubled his speed, heading for the hatch that was opening at their approach. The turtles and Master Splinter followed into the strange vehicle, crowding around Raph protectively. He hadn't made a sound on the entire run, but his face was tight with pain and he was sweating slightly.

Wufei swung to a stop right in front of Sally, almost so close she would have run into him if Trowa hadn't seized her arm. "You will stay here."

"Not a chance!"

"No choice," Trowa told her. "You're a Preventers agent. There are some laws you can't break."

She glared at them both. "And you can?"

It was Heero who gave her a flat look as he went by. "It doesn't matter for us."

Sally opened her mouth to object, but stopped – there was nothing she could say. He was right, even if that wasn't technically how the law supposedly worked. All five of the former Gundam pilots were Preventers agents, theoretically held to the same laws and regulations that bound all other agents. But on the other hand, there was _nobody_ who could tell the Gundams what to do or what not to do. If a situation required them to break laws, they would do it without hesitation. They always had. And no one outside of Lady Une really ever knew everything they did or why they did it (and sometimes even she didn't find out until long after). The Gundams had received amnesty after the wars for their actions from the ESUN, and Lady Une had continued to provide it while as part of Preventers by the cunning tactic of simply not stopping them from doing what needed to be done.

"Continue to evacuate the colony," Wufei ordered. "We will contact you if we need further assistance."

And then he was gone and the doors of the personal conveyance closed. Sally could clearly see Duo in the cockpit through the windshield and she sighed. _I hope Raphael takes it easy. I wonder if those sealant sutures can handle however many Gs Duo's about to pull_.

With Duo piloting and the state of emergency declared, the craft flew through the colony as though it were the Earth's sky, screaming above buildings and narrowly avoiding environmental controls. Wufei and Heero flanked Duo at the pilot seat, feeding him information about where exactly they thought Karai had gone. Duo, to his credit, didn't need more than that for directions; he had a habit of memorizing things when he got bored and had nothing to build with – he'd started on the layouts of various colonies back during the wars and already knew this particular L1 colony by heart. Trowa wanted to be beside Quatre, feeling something in their connection he still didn't like, but Quatre had ordered him to stay in contact with Rashid to coordinate their efforts. And the turtles and Master Splinter were mostly hanging on for dear life. Duo was _not_ a nice pilot when he was in a hurry.

In the back corner, Quatre reached into the bag he'd grabbed as soon as he and Trowa had emerged from their moment in the hallway together. His goggles had been perched on his head, but he slipped them down slowly, regretfully, to hang around his neck. With a deep, steadying breath, Quatre drew forth the small circlet he'd made. Much less cumbersome than a full cockpit or even a simulator and helmet, once he'd uploaded a version of ZERO into Horus he had condensed the mechanical needs of the system and keyed them to his specific brainwaves.

_I remember the Doctors testing me after that first flight in Wing Zero_ , he thought to himself as his fingers flew over the tiny controls. _They said then that my brainwaves hadn't been changed. But by the time I used it to lead the Gundams, there was no going back. I wonder what they would think if they were alive to see the results of my scans now_. Quatre was glad they were not alive – he was sure if they could see him pulling on the metal circlet of neural transmitters and other miniaturized hardware, whatever they would have said would not have been flattering.

Then, invisibly, using the bulk of the turtles and everyone's distraction, he slid a flesh-colored wire from the headpiece over an ear and down his collar, threading it inside his shirt-sleeve where he could plug it into the watch that was the most secret Horus module of them all. ZERO was too big a program to run on even the best tiny computer – Quatre would need the full power of Horus to help him this time.

The last piece was a specialized visor that went over his eyes and snapped to the circlet above his ears, affixing the whole thing in place (and further concealing the cord to Horus). This would give him not only a visual output of ZERO's calculations, but also direct access to Horus's surveillance. The click of the visor as it locked into the ZERO circlet and the flashing words "System Ready" it displayed made the pit of Quatre's stomach churn.

_I can do this. I have to do this._

Then he picked his way through the bouncing craft to where Donatello had taken shelter against a bulkhead and was making some final modifications to the portal stick.

"I'm ready," Quatre said.

Don looked up. "You want to hook it up right now?"

"There's no telling where or when Ultimate Drako will be. We need to be ready."

Donnie could only nod. He was right. "Okay. I'll let you hook it up. And as soon as you boot up your crazy program, I'm sticking to you like glue."

Quatre smiled, though it was more of a grimace. "Thanks. But it's not necessary." _Either this will work or ZERO will fry my brain. Whichever happens, there won't be anything anyone can do to save me._

_But it's either this, or there won't be anything anyone can do to save this colony and everyone on it._


	11. Where Forever Dies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here we go!
> 
> Before I forget, I wanted to confirm the soundtrack that some of you have guessed at:
> 
> "Born to Rise" by Redlight King  
> "I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin  
> "Wrong Side of Heaven" by Five Finger Death Punch  
> "Through Glass" by Stone Sour
> 
> I hope the conclusion is all you hoped to see!
> 
> Enjoy!

While Quatre focused on the delicate work of running another line from the ZERO circlet, this time to the portal stick which Don had upgraded to have a jack for the input, Duo had unlocked the highly illegal, hidden laser weapons on-board the mobile armor.

The situation was so dire, Wufe didn't even bother to grumble as Duo put them to use, slicing through metal walls and diving through vents and maintenance corridors to reach the colony's central power station.

By the time both Quatre and Don were sure the portal stick was as ready as it would ever be to transition from manual input to ZERO's direct command, Duo was crashing into the area that housed the huge turbine that was the colony's heart.

"There she is!" Duo yelled as he careened sharply around a power couplet.

Everyone but Donatello and Quatre crowded to the forward windshield. They followed Duo's line of sight to where a figure in black was climbing nimbly down the turbine itself.

"Can you shoot her down?" Raph asked.

Wufei shook his head. "Too risky. He could cause it to explode."

"We take her out on the ground," Heero said in a sharp, low voice.

"Uh, guys? Ready?" Quatre called.

The Gundams turned to look at him, all but Duo who was busy finding a spot to set down near where Karai seemed to be heading. Donatello noticed them all steel themselves before Trowa nodded.

"Do it."

Quatre smiled a little at him before he touched the edge of the visor. "Okay. Here we go." He hit the combination of commands only he could see on the transparent visor's display and gave the verbal access code he'd designated. "Recognize Quatre Raberba Winner. Initiate program ZERO Alpha Sandrock."

The display went dark blue for a moment before letters appeared in yellow. ::ZERO System online. Accepting additional interface. System locked.::

The enhanced neural patterns folded over Quatre's mind and when he looked up, his eyes were focused and cold and hyper-aware.

"Karai is functioning as a delaying tactic in an attempt to divide us," he said, his voice slightly stilted. "Rerouting local systems. Foreign threat identified. Combustion in nine minutes, forty-five seconds."

Mikey's eye-ridges went up. "She planted a bomb?"

Quatre didn't answer him directly, instead verbally conveying what he was doing with the speed of thought within ZERO. "ETA of arrival of Maganac forces is seven minutes. Directing them to its location now."

Don nodded. "So if we can't stop her and get to it, they will."

"It's not gonna matter," Duo said. He touched the craft to the ground and hit the switch to open the hatch.

At the same time, Quatre's head snapped up. "Electromagnetic disturbance detected."

"They are here," Splinter said.

The turtles and Gundams spilled from the mobile armor to look up into a temporal storm from which Ultimate Drako appeared, grinning. An instant later, Karai dropped to join him.

"And now," Ultimate Drako said, "it ends for you all."

"Not a chance!" Leo declared, drawing his swords. "You're going down this time!"

"It would be so easy," Ultimate Drako commented lazily, "to simply destroy this space station and watch you all die within it. But we prefer to watch you _suffer_ , to watch you know that you will be responsible for millions and millions of deaths, to _fear_ the countdown to your failure.

"We gotta stop that bomb!" Raph yelled.

"Leave it to me," Heero said.

"Affirmative," Quatre said. "Go with him, Zero Three."

Trowa nodded sharply. "Mission accepted." The pair dashed to the side.

"No you don't!" Ultimate Drako raised the Time Scepter to prevent them. A series of rust and dust skeletons began rising from the flooring.

"Time to play 'keep the big scary dragon thing busy' again!" Mikey bounced into the air, Leo and Don and Duo and Wufei falling in with him. Only Raphael, Master Splinter, and Quatre stayed behind.

"Now, my son," Splinter said. "Remember your vow."

Raph growled but nodded. He looked to where Wufei had broken from Ultimate Drako to take on Karai, sword drawn. _Hang in there, guys_. But he stayed beside his father as Splinter sank to the ground and closed his eyes.

Quatre slipped to one side, monitoring everything through a unified mix of empathic awareness, Horus's intra-colony surveillance, and ZERO's calculations of probable trajectories and potential outcomes. ZERO kept Quatre's emotions largely calm, almost neutral. He'd already managed to code it to handle the empathic input and keep it from becoming debilitating as long as he wasn't directly exposed to something strong – but that was had happened the last time he had used it against Surd and Ezekiel Rage. Which was precisely why Trowa and Heero were climbing up the power turbine and not within reach of Karai's demonic energies; he didn't want a repeat of what had happened then.

::Analysis of variables complete. Estimate total of three shots via portal manipulator possible prior to greater than 60% chance of destruction of key component.::

Quatre reached to the Gundams within their connection, his touch cold and impersonal, but no less potent. _Firing in five seconds_.

Heero and Trowa didn't bother to respond, but Duo in particular sent back a blast of awareness. It was enough. When Quatre raised the portal stick, his mind flitting through its systems as if it were a part of himself, Duo grabbed Don and Mikey and pulled them out of the way, Leo following the retreat.

::Firing.::

The sudden glow of the portal stick's beam in the cavernous space shone against the Time Scepter's sheer power. When the nimbus of light hit the aura around the Time Scepter, Ultimate Drako gave a raw, angry roar. The skeletal creatures they were summoning from the metal room burst and vanished back into clouds of dust.

::Successful disruption of target at 45%. Recalibrating for second attack.::

"Nice shot!" Don yelled. "Try boosting the phasic harmonics another twenty or thirty percent!"

" _You_ have done this?!" Ultimate Drako's voice shook with rage. "We will make you suffer!"

"Shell you say that a lot!" Mikey bounced near enough to kick a mass of rusted metal at Ultimate Drako's lower head. "Get a new catchphrase, dude!"

::Suggestion by Unit Donatello is superior. Initiating adjustments.::

Raph spotted some incoming fire or blast or whatever it was the Time Scepter spit out when Ultimate Drako was pissed and grabbed onto both Master Splinter and Quatre to pull them clear. "You got another shot in you?"

"Calibrating," Quatre said.

"Geez. Donnie, I ain't never teasing you about talkin' like a computer again!" Raph yelled.

Meanwhile, Karai felt a cold shiver go through her. She paused in her attack on the Chinese swordsman before her to look over. "What are you doing?"

"Wait and see!" Raph taunted her. "It's gonna be a fun show!"

Above, Heero and Trowa had located the bomb and were beginning to disarm it. The Maganacs were still a few minutes away.

Ultimate Drako seemed to be having trouble getting the Time Scepter to do more than spit lightning and black fire in various random directions. They lashed out with a tail and caught Donatello on his weak side, sending him flying into a bulkhead with a cry. Leonardo jumped into the gap with a wicked strike with both blades before he leaped to the side to help Don to his feet.

::Firing now.::

Quatre lifted the portal stick and unleashed its power a second time.

While Ultimate Drako bellowed and the others dodged and the Time Scepter shimmered in its inexplicable way, Quatre's mind was entirely elsewhere. Like calculating the angle of thousands of missiles at once, Quatre was adjusting the portal stick on the fly, changing it at the speed of ZERO-spiked thought from the feedback analyzed by Horus and ZERO and his own mind. He couldn't think about any one adjustment or he'd lose track of everything, but he knew how to let his brain do the work in concert with ZERO. He could react to the data-feed in the display almost faster than it appeared.

As with before, the portal stick could only fire for a matter of moments before needing to reset, and he was forced to leave off his attack. Somewhere amidst juggling scores of variables in his head, Quatre's mind whispered, _We only get one more shot. Have to make it count_.

"We are going to _crush_ you!" Ultimate Drako shrieked.

Suddenly Karai dropped her sword from numb fingers. "What...what have you _done_?" She looked to where Master Splinter sat serenely with a pale face.

Ultimate Drako plowed over Duo and Mikey. They charged for Quatre at full speed.

"Zero Four!" came two yells from above. Heero and Trowa were descending as fast as they could move, both making dangerous leaps from impossible heights to get to Quatre before Ultimate Drako.

Leo and Don joined the mad rush with Duo in Ultimate Drako's wake, all closing on Quatre's position with Raphael and Master Splinter.

::Firing now.::

Karai screamed and a tendril of sickly light rose out of her body.

Quatre put everything he had into the portal stick and let loose a cannon of crackling energy.

Ultimate Drako lashed an arm forward with the Time Scepter in an attempt to intercept the attack.

The three energies collided.

Quatre snapped back to himself so violently he stumbled and had to catch himself on one knee. "What...?" ZERO was gone, cut off as though it had never been. He looked up.

_Oh Allah, what have I done_?

The Time Scepter hung in the air above them all, the power around it swirling in a maelstrom of multicolored hues. From it, a fountain of strange light poured down, creating a steadily-expanding bubble that encompassed them all.

"Donnie, what's happening?" Leo turned to him, pulling his brother to join up with the rest of their family.

"I...I don't know." Don shook his head. "I...there's something wrong with...wherever we are now."

Quatre began backing away from the turtles. The other Gundams began to retreat together halfway across the circle, and Quatre headed away from them as well as fear began to rise in him. He knew the truth, somehow, without any idea where the knowledge came to him except maybe as a possibility ZERO had shown him that he had forgotten until this instant.

"What do you mean, where we are now?" Raph asked. "We're still here. Aren't we?"

"No!" Ultimate Drako laughed. "We are in a place of possibility. It is like the void that merged us into one being, but alive and full where that was empty!"

They stretched out their limbs, crowing with glee. And began to grow.

"With the Time Scepter, all things, all places, all times are possible. And my will commands them all!"

When both faces turned to the turtles, their evil smiles became brighter than ever.

"Now may you know true suffering!"

The Scepter glowed for an instant.

"No! It cannot be!" The turtles looked away from Ultimate Drako to where Splinter had perceived something else entirely. From near where Karai had collapsed, gasping and unmoving, a familiar shape was forming from the dark energy.

The four turtles yelled together, "The Shredder!" And it was the Shredder, the Demon Shredder who was slowly becoming solid again. His laughter was unforgettable.

Ultimate Drako leered at them. "Die in fear!" But as they raised a foot to bring it down upon the turtles and Master Splinter, a tiny sphere of light winked into life, shielding the turtles from the strike.

The turtles turned to Master Splinter, who had dropped back to his knees and was holding his hands out in a warding gesture. "I will protect you from Drako. You must handle the Shredder, my sons!"

"But how?" Mikey asked. "We don't have the amulets or the Ninja tribunal or _anything_!"

"Yes..." Ultimate Drako hissed. "Let your fears become real."

Donatello gasped. "No!"

Growing from the very colony around them was a scene that had haunted Donatello's nightmares for years. It was a familiar throne room from a distant dimension or a possible future. Dozens of Karai-bots began to shimmer into view, more lethal than even he remembered. And there...on the ground...

"How charming." Ultimate Drako practically purred. "Your brothers and your master fear the Shredder most of all. You fear something _far_ more delicious."

Don dropped to his knees, clutching his head. "It's not real. _It's not real_."

"But it is," Ultimate Drako assured him. "Your attempt to destroy me has given me the very power over reality to ensure you face your greatest horrors for my own delight!"

Mikey screamed. Don wrenched his neck to one side to see that Michelangelo's arm was fading away to leave behind a stump Don had seen before. Beside him, Raph felt a burning pain in one eye and could feel blood dripping down his cheek. Leo started to shake as what felt like claws began to rip at his head leaving burning lines in their wake.

A soul-splitting cry sounded from the other side.

Leonardo looked up to see the Gundams as he had never seen them before. Quatre was backing away from them, his hands up and visibly shaking. The other four...barely looked human.

Wufei's face was contorted in a potent rage so thick it seemed to burn the very air. His sword was drawn and he was running it thoughtfully along his own hand, bathing it in his own blood.

Duo was cackling like a madman, his eyes wide and his face split in a smile that matched Ultimate Drako's. He had a fistful of the little throwing daggers he had lent Trowa at the Nexus tournament and was flipping them with almost lustful excitement into the visible flesh of the person nearest him – Heero.

Heero's face was utterly blank, devoid of any expression at all. He barely seemed to register the tiny blades disappearing into his body and leaving bleeding smears. He was too intent on the gun in his hands that he was lowering to where Quatre cowered.

And Trowa was closing on Quatre. His expression was hidden in the sweep of his hair, but there was a thick blade out in one hand. He ran it experimentally across his own throat, leaving a line of blood to drip while he bent to repeat the gesture on Quatre with much more fatal intentions.

"Now die as you fear most!" Ultimate Drako's voice rang out.

And Leonardo made what could well be the last intuitive leap of his life if he was wrong.

"The Scepter is making our fears real! We have to fight the fears so we can fight back!"

"How?" Mikey asked. He was trembling as the stump on his arm began to feel more and more real.

"The same way we did before," Leo said "We'll take down the Demon Shredder with our spirits and we'll banish these realities by overcoming them!"

"Raphael, I release you from your vow. Go quickly, my sons," Master Splinter said. He was beginning to feel weak and knew that should Donatello's fears grow any stronger they might well overpower him and leave them all as they had been in that nightmare world of his memory – which would mean their certain deaths.

"Split up," Leo said. "I'll handle Shredder."

"I'm coming' with you, bro," Raph said. He rubbed angrily at the blood on his cheek but squared his shoulders anyway. "Between the two of us, that ghost hasn't got a chance."

Leo grinned at him as hope lit in his heart. "I think you're right."

"What about me?" Mikey asked.

"Help Don," Leo told him. "He's the only one who can stop this." Leo pointed around the room.

"And make it quick." Raph shivered as he felt more wounds appearing on his body that were not supposed to be there.

"Okay." Mikey nodded and moved to where Don was crouching low, face slack with terror. He could hear sounds that were _very not good_ from where the Gundams were clustered too, but Mikey had to focus on his brother. He trusted Leo and Raph with all his heart to handle the Shredder just as he trusted his father to keep Drako at bay. He didn't have time for anything but Don now.

"Donatello?" he whispered. To his horror, Donatello was fading away just as his arm had, but Don's whole body instead. "Donnie?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Don was whispering feverishly. "You counted on me and I let you down. I made this happen."

"No way, dude," Mikey told him. "This isn't even us. This is some creepy alternate universe or something. This isn't _us_. We're right here."

Don closed his eyes and faded a bit more. Mikey's heart jumped as he felt a new pain on the side of his head.

"Don! Donatello!" Michelangelo dropped to his knees. "Please, bro. Please. You've gotta..."

But he didn't know what to beg for.

A few yards away, Leo and Raph were facing the Shredder. The Demon they remembered so well was chuckling as his gauntlet and helmet materialized.

"We can do this," Leo said. And he felt it. Felt it with his whole heart.

Raph looked at him and some of his older brother's confidence and conviction filled him up with hope. _That always was Leo's special weapon. Not a sword or anything like that. His spirit._ "Yeah, bro. We can."

The pair linked hands and closed their eyes to fight the Demon Shredder with everything they carried within.

Quatre's raw voice sounded in the sudden quiet. "I did this. Allah, I did this. I've destroyed us all." Then he screamed, " _You should never have trusted me_!"

And Michelangelo, increasingly desperate, seized onto an idea inspired by Quatre's very terror. He dropped and put his arms around Donatello even though his brother didn't seem to be entirely solid anymore.

"Donnie. Listen to me, bro. We _do_ count on you. We _do_ trust you. But no matter what, we'd _never_ end up like these other guys. It's not possible."

Don froze for a second and Mikey hoped he was getting through. He pressed on.

"When you got infected by that virus, we didn't fall apart. We couldn't do what you do for us, but we made it work. And we stuck together. Because if we gave up on each other, if we gave up on our family, we'd let you down. And we could never, _ever_ let you down, Donnie."

Was it Mikey's imagination or was Donatello becoming more real in his arms?

"I know we put too much pressure on you, bro. I know it. But we trust you to have our back just like we _always_ have yours. If we lost you tomorrow, we'd _still_ have your back. We trust Leo to lead...you know, most of the time. We trust Raph to survive anything. And he does. And so do you. We trust you as much as you trust us. And I _know._ " He leaned closer. "I _know_ how much you trust us, Donatello."

He waited a moment before he said, "Trust us now. Trust _us_ and not those other universe turtles. Trust us now and this stuff will never happen. It won't happen _because_ you trust us. And we'd _never_ let you down. Even if you disappeared. We'd never let it happen because we _couldn't do that to you_."

Something changed. The pains that had almost dropped Mikey except for his stubborn refusal to stop trying to save Donnie began to let up, began to vanish. And his arm...his arm was less gone.

And so was Donatello.

Within the circle of Michelangelo's hug, Donatello had seized onto a single thought. It was Quatre's, and it was strong enough to hold him. _Change the words in your heart_ , he'd said. _The courage and trust has to come from inside you. Otherwise, it won't be real enough to stand up against the world_.

_I've spent so long being afraid I'd leave them and they would shatter. I should have trusted them. I might get killed one day, or disappear, or get lost. But that doesn't mean they'll fall apart. And...since they know what that would do to me...Mikey's right. They wouldn't let themselves become my worst nightmare._

_And so I can't let them become mine, either_.

With a shock of wonder and a rush of clarity, Donatello felt his fears fall away. Not _gone_ , not exactly. But no longer stronger than his own will. And certainly not strong enough to cloud his mind. Donatello got to his feet, keeping a firm hold of Michelangelo and leaning on the support his brother willingly gave.

"The Scepter," he said in a low voice. "It's reading our thoughts and our fears. And the strongest thoughts are Drako's. He wants us to suffer and fear, so that's what it's doing. But we don't have to let it. We can be stronger. This works both ways."

And Donatello turned his considerable mind to changing reality.

The future Shredder's throne room began to melt before his eyes. The injuries on Mikey and his brothers vanished. The cold in the pit of Donatello's stomach went with it.

"That's it!" Mikey cheered. "Kick that fear's shell, Don!"

"I will." And he had. But he wasn't done. Don could see that his brothers had the ghost of the Demon Shredder well in hand, but across from him were the Gundams, and even Donatello cringed at the carnage being wrought between them. Bodies had come out of nowhere to pile up amidst those who killed with evil delight. Don didn't know what specifically was behind this fearsome scenario, but he could deduce from the weak keening sound from one of the five where the fear originated.

"Quatre!" Don shouted. "Quatre, _listen to me_! Your fears are _creating_ this reality. And just like I had to trust in my brothers to break the cycle, _you have to trust in yourself_!"

Quatre gave a wet gurgle.

Don swallowed harshly but made himself continue. "Quatre! You can save them _all_ from this! Whatever you're afraid of, it's coming true. You have to let go of the fear! I know it's hard, but you _have_ to trust yourself."

And words came to him, words he didn't entirely understand but felt right so he let them flow.

"Quatre, you're not the only one who feels that way. I do too. And the kinder you are, the bigger the toll it takes on you. We have to fight with ourselves, in our hearts, and we have to do it harshly in order to come to the right conclusions. You were the one who helped me correct the mistake I made. Don't let your fears control you. You're too strong to let that happen! We both have people we want to protect."

Donatello bellowed the last with all his strength. " _Protect the people you love by trusting yourself to love them_!"

There was a moment of silence.

And then a blond head rose out of the horrors and Quatre's eyes opened, clear and steady. "Mission accepted."

Between one blink and the next, all vestiges of his horror-filled reality evaporated. Quatre stood, strong and tall, as the others returned to themselves and got to their feet, albeit a little shakily. But their wounds were gone, the madness was gone, and they were whole once more.

Don turned away to make sure his brothers were faring okay against the Demon Shredder. Behind him, warmth burst into being like a bright nimbus around the Gundams strong enough to be felt all the way across the unreal space.

"Quatre," Trowa breathed. He moved hesitantly for a moment before reaching out and pulling his husband into his arms. "Love. You did it."

Quatre nodded against his shoulder. "It was just like you said. And it was you that brought me back. All of you." He looked up to Heero and Duo and Wufei. Turning in Trowa's arms, he stretched his hands out so that Heero could latch onto one and Duo and Wufei could grasp the other. "Our feelings change the world. They always have. This is no different. We will create reality by what we carry in our hearts."

"Good thing we have you there, then," Heero said. Because he knew – they all knew – that if not for the bond that connected them, and the friendship and trust that had preceded it, they would not have had enough inside themselves to keep the world from disaster. The Scepter had dug into their souls and had found the blades and shrapnel and bullets lodged there; alone, the pilots might not have been able to find the strength to beat them back. But together in the oneness of trust and love and communion, even the worst fears they could summon – fears they _all_ shared – they had learned to live in good and banish the evil.

"Then let's kick this monster the hell out of our world!" Duo grinned.

Wufei nodded. "Yes. We have been playthings long enough. It is time to summon our greatest strength."

"Donatello!" Quatre shouted. "We're ready."

Leo and Raph opened their eyes. The Demon Shredder gave one last, pathetic-sounding screech and disappeared. Leo looked to Don who gave him a thumbs-up.

"Us, too," Don said. He looked up at the looming form of Ultimate Drako. "So are we shrinking this guy down to size or taking him on like this?"

Leo and Raph returned to Don and Mikey, exchanging quick hugs or grips of hands.

Quatre smiled ferally, the Gundams echoing the expression. "We always did fight best just one way."

The Gundams settled into a rough circle, all putting their hands together in the middle. And from them came a steady white light which grew and grew, sprouting arms and legs. And wings.

"It's Wing Zero!" Mikey cheered. "That is so cool!"

"So where's yours?" Duo yelled with a playful grin.

"Oh, we got that covered, right guys?" Raph looked to his brothers. They nodded to him, knowing, certain they could do this. Together.

The four of them lined up and closed their eyes, concentrating and remembering. They, too, began to glow. A form rose from them, sparkling green and white with a flash of blue. And a dragon roared, its blue and green scales shining in the light that seemed to spring from its multi-hued wings.

"This is not possible!" Ultimate Drako yelled. "You are not more powerful than we are!"

All nine of them spoke together in unison. "Oh yes we are!"

The Wing Zero Gundam drew its luminous beam sabre and the turtles' dragon spat purple flames into the air. And then both leaped to Ultimate Drako striking with the force of a star going nova.

The explosion that resulted knocked everyone back. Heero was first to his feet. "The Scepter is down!" he yelled.

Leo looked up and saw that the colony was normal again, no longer consumed by that strange mix of reality and unreality. Ultimate Drako was back to its original size, shaking both heads and dazedly trying to get upright again. The Time Scepter was lying on the ground several yards away. Above it was a hazy tear in the air through which Leo could see a rift forming.

He started to get up, already calling for action, but a familiar blur went by him.

Donatello grabbed up the Scepter and held it aloft. _Please let this work_.

The Scepter glowed joyously and the rift in space-time closed easily, willingly.

But a _horrible_ feeling thundered through Donatello, something sickening and wrong in every way.

"Look out!" Raph bellowed.

Don was almost relieved when Ultimate Drako appeared behind him and yanked the Scepter from his hand. If he'd held it even one more second, he felt absolutely, completely sure that something _terrible_ would have happened.

"We are back where we began!" Ultimate Drako taunted. "And you are out of tricks."

"Not yet."

Ultimate Drako turned in time for a pale hand to latch onto an outstretched arm.

"Quatre!" Mikey called.

The Gundams were closing on Quatre's position, but they stayed back a few steps, watching him carefully. "Trust him," Trowa said. "He knows what he's doing."

_I hope that's true_ , Quatre thought to himself as he easily overcame the strangely divided-yet-united mind and heart of Ultimate Drako and seized it within his own gift. Because finally, _finally_ Quatre understood.

That which is in balance within the soul is always stronger. But where Ultimate Drako was two hearts in balance, Quatre's heart was five Gundam hearts, or maybe ten hearts of Gundam and mutant, or perhaps even every heart of the Earth and colonies. Or every dimension, every world. What made Ultimate Drako strong made Quatre _phenomenal_. And within that power, the answer was clear.

_Allah forgive me_ , he prayed silently. _And my friends, too, if they will_. The Gundams were steady and strong within his heart, holding him up to make the final choice that had, in one sense, been made long ago.

Quatre reached into himself for the bright, potent light that was the root of his power.

And he _pushed_.

The monstrous Ultimate Drako screamed incoherently, fire racing along their nerves as their unified mind was torn apart. The Time Scepter flared wildly for a long moment.

There was a loud scream of space against void, being against non-being, soul against soul.

And Ultimate Drako vanished.

"Wha…what happened?" Leo managed after a few breathless moments.

The four other Gundams were already moving, sprinting over now-blackened metal flooring to lift Quatre's pale and shaking form from the center of a soot-streaked depression that had been bent by the force of whatever had just happened. A thin stream of blood trickled from his nose, and his eyes blinked with pained awareness, but he was smiling faintly.

Donatello was the first to join them. "Quatre, are you all right? What did you do to him?"

"I'm sorry, Donatello," Quatre whispered haggardly. "It was the only way."

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" Raph demanded as Leo was hauling him up on his shell like a backpack. Mikey came trailing after offering an arm to support Master Splinter.

"You did better than I thought you would, kid," came an unexpected voice.

Heero and Wufei were already training their guns on the form as the diminutive ball of light grew to a still-diminutive figure in white and blue robes who carried the Time Scepter.

"Lord Simultaneous?" Raphael frowned. "What are you doing here?"

The Gundams exchanged quick glances with the turtles before lowering their guard. Slightly.

"The problem about time travel is that it's all about perspective," he answered, moving over the uneven floor as though it weren't there. "To you guys, you already beat Drako once. But to them, this was your first encounter after they escaped me at Savanti's."

"We guessed that already, dude!" Mikey put in.

Lord Simultaneous frowned at the yougest turtle, then turned his gaze on where Quatre was hanging limply between Trowa and Heero. "You figured it out. Almost too late, by the way."

"I know." Quatre huffed. "Sorry."

"What did you figure out, Cat?" Duo asked softly.

"That everything that happened when Drako went back in time to fight the turtles was because of what had happened here. That he made certain choices there because of the outcome here." His eyes fell closed.

Donatello considered that for a moment. "We did know that already. But Drako never mentioned any of you back then. And they were all bent on revenge, but their plan wasn't like what they tried to do here at all."

"Doesn't make sense, does it?" Lord Simultaneous asked. "If they'd almost destroyed you here and caused so much suffering and gained new enemies, why wouldn't they do even worse the next time around?" He tipped his head to Quatre. "Unless someone prevented it."

"You…you did something to their mind." Leo realized eased Raph down to balance on legs that only shook a little. "You made them…less evil?"

"No." Quatre shook his head and opened his eyes with a visible effort. "But I made them forget. I locked away all their memories of everything that happened here, of us, of our fight, of the colonies. I couldn't erase it, though, so some of it will leak through."

"That's not all you did, kid," Lord Simultaneous said. "You also activated the Time Scepter and got it to send them on their way before they could form any new memories."

Quatre shrugged. "It made sense."

"That is why, when the Ultimate Drako entered our home, they acted rather rashly." Splinter stumbled a bit before Don got an arm around him and shared his weight with Michelangelo. "They sent you away, my sons, with little control over to where you were sent. Their plan was ill-conceived and foolish."

"Because Cattie scrambled their brains?" Mikey asked.

"Something like that," Quatre acknowledged. Then he sighed and looked up to Donatello. "But I still owe you an apology."

"You couldn't erase it all, could you?" Donatello breathed and it hitched like a dry sob. "Drako still remembered my fears on some level. Maybe not the facts, but the feelings."

Quatre nodded. "And that's what will be in their heart when they activate the Scepter again. That's why you'll experience it, why you'll end up there in the first place. It's my fault. Ultimate Drako won't even know why it's _you_ that gets sent to that dimension when all they remember is eons in the void hating Master Splinter and Leo. Because I couldn't…"

"Katoru," Heero interrupted. The blond looked into his eyes with a desperate sort of sorrow. "Do not blame yourself. You have saved all our lives and likely millions of others. You sent that monster away into a situation where we know it will be defeated. You did more than anyone could do."

"Actually, that's literally true," Lord Simultaneous said. "Remember I told you turtles that the Time Scepter has a mind of its own? It knew that it needed to bring Drako somewhere that they could meet their match to ensure they would be beatable by the turtles. Out of all existence, every dimension and time this side of the cosmos, it chose to bring them here to you, Quatre."

Quatre twitched. "Why me?"

"We know what you are," Trowa said softly. "That's enough for us."

"There must be other empaths, telepaths, all kinds of beings with powers much greater than his out there, though, right?" Leo asked. "Others who could do that to his mind and get the Scepter to play along."

"Yes, of course there are." Lord Simultaneous nodded. "But how many of them have practice on such a large scale? How many have calibrated their minds to control hundreds or thousands of inputs and keep them all straight? And how many have practice rewriting brainwave patterns so precisely?"

"Are you saying," Duo was almost breathless, "that Cattie's the best out there because of _ZERO_?"

"Among other things." The Time Lord shrugged. "He's also brave and honest and noble. Telepaths tend to get jaded throughout their lifetimes and might not have the resistance to so much evil will."

"Also," Donatello spoke up as though shaking himself out of shock, "even if there _was_ a better option, there's no telling if we will someday encounter that person. And we _had_ to be here for Drako to fight with or he'd be off and gone again before any other telepath could deal with him. And...even if they _did_ try to fight him," his words sped up with his thoughts, "they wouldn't know his history or what to do to him to send him back in time to us to make sure it turned out okay."

"Everybody but you, bro," Raph said softly. He was trying to pretend that he wasn't starting to feel that screaming pain from his shell injury. It was _not_ working.

"Against the safety of everybody in the entire known universe, I think me having a few bad days in a possible future is a fair price to pay," Don told him.

Raph glared at him and no one needed to be an empath to read his thoughts: _Not as far as I'm concerned, not when it happened to you_.

Don glanced back to him, shook himself, and smiled. "Yeah, but I just conquered that fear. It's going to be okay."

This time, Raph actually believed him. Leo and Mikey smiled fondly.

"So…what happens now?" Quatre asked quietly.

Lord Simultaneous shrugged again. "Drako will go back in time to the encounter that's already happened for the turtles and it will turn out like they already know. They'll break a few interdimensional rules along the way, but nothing I can't clean up with a little elbow grease."

"And the boy?" Duo asked. "Ue? Will he…be okay?"

The Time Lord smiled. "His future isn't up to me. But he's making a much better start thanks to all of you. I wouldn't worry too much about having to prepare for another round of this."

Lord Simultaneous's eyes fell back on Quatre. "Hey, if you ever get sick of your own dimension, give me a call. I've got a few other inter-dimensional problems that could use a power like that, kid."

"No." Heero's voice was flat. "Quatre worries enough about our world."

"Suit yourself." Lord Simultaneous smiled a bit. "But you might be sorry you said that in a few years."

"Why?" Wufei demanded sharply. His hand was on his sword and his eyes were narrowed.

The Time Lord's smile widened. "Let's just say Quatre's going to get another job offer, and if he takes it up instead, traipsing around space-time will be like a vacation compared to that."

And Quatre understood. He locked down his emotions to keep the others from sensing it, but nothing could keep them from reading the expression in his eyes.

Trowa raised an eyebrow. "Something you want to share with us, love?"

"We'll talk about it later," Quatre told him firmly.

Splinter chuckled as a flash of insight – or perhaps even precognition – struck him. "You will do well in that role, young one. Particularly with your brothers to support you."

"We'll talk about this later," Quatre repeated a little more sharply.

Heero glared at him. "Yes, we absolutely will."

"Well, if that's everything, I've got two dozen systems to set right and a whole new group of cadets applying to positions in Null Time," Lord Simultaneous said. "But before I go, call this an act of goodwill."

He waved the Time Scepter and vanished in a flash of light.

And everything was repaired – as it had been before the battle. Raph grunted in surprise as every pain he had vanished; he knew without having to look that his shell and all the rest of his barely-pieced-together injuries were completely healed. In fact, everyone was well again, all but Quatre who was still pale as the moon though he was no longer bleeding.

"If _that's_ his goodwill, I wanna get on that guy's Christmas list," Duo quipped.

"Hey, what about that bomb?" Mikey suddenly remembered.

Trowa shrugged. "We got it mostly handled before we went...elsewhere."

A clatter and a host of shouting announced the arrival of the Maganacs.

"And they'll dispose of it," Wufei finished.

"So what happens to Karai?" Duo wanted to know. She was still lying in a crumpled heap in a corner.

The turtles looked to Leo. Leo looked to the Gundams. "Uh. Have you...decided? What did you decide?"

"With that demonic energy gone from her," Quatre said, "she might be easier to rehabilitate. And, after all, she did set a bomb here on L1. That makes her a criminal in our world, now. We actually know how to deal with people like that."

"What do you intend to suggest?" Heero eyed Quatre, who was stretching his shoulders and pulling himself upright.

"I know someone very like Karai," Quatre said. He drew close to her and looked down at her with something gentle in his face. "Someone who wound up on the wrong path because her intentions were actually good but her methods and priorities were completely backwards. Someone who lost their way because of the loyalty she felt to someone important to her. If that person can change, I think she stands a pretty good chance of helping Karai as well."

Duo laughed loud and bright. "Oh my god, Cattie! You are _not_ serious!"

Quatre smiled at him. "Of course I am."

"That's a perfect solution," Wufei declared. When Leo looked at him, he closed his eyes and a tiny smile pulled at his expression. "Karai has the chance for rehabilitation, which is what all of you and Winner want for her. But in order for her to get it, she has to endure the presence of _that person_ , and that is more than enough punishment to satisfy me."

Heero, Trowa, and Duo all nodded vehemently.

Quatre shrugged. "They've just never really liked her."

"Dorothy _stabbed_ you," Trowa reminded him.

Quatre shrugged again. But he was smiling as he lifted the visor and ZERO circlet from his head and tucked them away. They had been mostly fried in all the excitement (and the line to Horus cut), but he already had some new ideas to improve them for the next time. Because there _would_ be a next time.

There's _always_ a next time when it comes to preserving the peace of a whole world.

"Okay, just to review." Mikey bounced on the balls of his feet. "We just won, right? I mean, we kicked Drako's ugly shell, we saved the colony, we beat Karai _again_ , and everybody lives happily ever after, right?"

"Your portal stick looks a little flattened," Heero said. Quatre had dropped it in all the chaos, and at some point it seemed someone had trampled it. Apparently Lord Simultaneous had not deemed that worth fixing.

"That is not going to trouble you, my friends," came a deep voice.

They turned to see the Daimyo himself standing there, the War Staff in his hands. "I came to thank you."

"For what, my old friend?" Splinter stood proudly, bowing before the Lord of the Nexus.

"You have fulfilled your destiny and ensured a safe future for my son. All of you." His eyes swept the five Gundams and the four turtles and their sensei. "You are both formidable teams, and, apparently, when united, become unstoppable."

"There's a trick to it, you know." Raph slung one arm over Donatello's shoulders. "It's all about trusting the other guy, right bro?"

"And trusting yourself," Trowa said softly to Quatre.

"Good lessons." The Daimyo nodded approvingly. "Now, are you ready to return to your own world, or do you wish some more time here?"

Leo was about to thank the Daimyo for the offer and begin their farewells, but Heero cleared his throat. "I believe you should stay for at least some time."

Everyone stared at him as though they'd never seen him before. Then, suddenly, Quatre started to chuckle. And as the Gundams picked up what he was feeling through their connection, they all began smirking. Heero ignored them – and admirably ignored the fact that his ears were slightly red as well.

"Yes, young warrior?" the Daimyo asked politely.

"Even if you are fully healed, you will all need time to rest after the ordeal, and we can provide more comfortable surroundings," Heero said. "And...I believe a rematch was requested." He nodded very slightly at Raph.

"Oh yeah! It is so on, soldier-boy!" Raph grinned. Then he paused. "Hey, can I keep the shell, though?"

"Definitely," Duo told him. "You're an honorary Gundam now, remember?"

Leonardo knew the proper thing would be to return to their own world at once, to get back to their training and patrolling and their lives. But he looked around. Raph was practically _hopping_ with excitement to fight Heero again. Mikey had spent the last week when he wasn't worrying about Raph clamoring to see more of this world (and try his hand at flying a spacecraft again, which definitely was _not_ happening), Donatello would give _anything_ to learn more about this technology, and Master Splinter seemed content. And they _had_ kind of earned a rest.

Quatre met Leo's eyes with a knowing, warm smile. "Your family has saved us twice now. What we owe you, we cannot repay. You may consider yourselves welcome with us any time, as often and for as long as you like."

Don smiled back. "You saved us, too. At least twice, I think. So we're even, and you definitely have to drop in to visit us, too." He reached down to pick up the damaged portal stick. "I think I can get this thing working now. And you can build your own, can't you?"

"ZERO has all the specifications stored in Horus," Quatre confirmed. "Shouldn't be too hard. But I'd like your input on it anyway."

"Then I think," Leo turned to the Daimyo, "we will thank you for your kind offer but decline for now. It seems we have some things to do here for a while."

"Very well." The Daimyo nodded. "If I do not see you sooner, then, I expect to see you all at the next Tournament." His eyes lingered on the Gundams for an instant. "Farewell."

And he disappeared.

"Hey, Cat?" Mikey asked. "How come the War Staff didn't bug you this time?"

It was Master Splinter who answered. "Because Quatre-san has mastered himself, which is all the War Staff required of him." Before anyone could press him further, he quietly redirected things by patting Donatello on the arm. "As have you, my son. And I am very proud of you."

"Me, too," Leo said with a smile. "I told you we trusted you."

"Yeah." Don ducked his head. "I just...had to figure it out."

"Speaking of figuring out," Trowa put in, "how did you know what to say to Quatre?"

"I don't know." Don shrugged. "It just sort of...came to me?"

"They were the exact words Trowa said to me to bring me out of ZERO's madness," Quatre said softly. "And mine to save him. You couldn't have known."

Wufei's eyes were sharp. Quatre could sense his suspicion, but he only said, "I tire of these mysteries."

"Yeah." Duo bounced. "Let's go do something else. _Anything_ else. And anywhere but a hospital. Please?"

"Where can we go?" Raph wanted to know.

"Where do you want to go?" Duo shot back. "We can go pretty much anywhere."

Raph asked, "Restaurants? Real ones?"

"Sure, why not? Cattie can buy them out."

"Amusement parks?"

"Yeah," Duo nodded. "If you like the circus, Trowa's got an in there, too."

"Space race!" Mikey cheered. "In a mobile suit!"

Duo grinned. "Wufei'll kill us. We'll do it when he's not looking."

Raphael and Michelangelo began spouting off even more outlandish ideas, Duo encouraging them with glee. Wufei, pointedly ignoring them, began walking towards the mobile armor, remembering that he ought to cancel the evacuation order. Heero and Trowa bent with Leo to lift Karai's unresisting body from the floor. Donatello was already fiddling with his portal stick as he absently walked behind them towards the conveyance. Quatre pulled a communicator from his pocket and gave a few quick orders to the Maganacs, signaling them as much by waving at them as by telling them he was okay over the open channel.

And Master Splinter looked on, wondering.

Quatre turned from his place to rejoin the others and caught Master Splinter's eye. The wise rat drew near and whispered very, very softly, "You already know, young one. And I trust that you will admit it when the time comes."

Master Splinter was gratified to see Quatre blush slightly, but duck his head in a tiny nod.

"I am glad," Splinter told him. "Better you than any of my sons. Though they will support you."

"I haven't decided to accept it," Quatre whispered back. "I haven't even told the others yet."

Splinter patted his shoulder. "You have fifteen years by your own time to tell them that the War Staff has chosen you to lead the Nexus at the end of the Dynastic Adjudication. I am sure you will find the right moment eventually."

And Quatre shook his head and laughed. "They always say I have the weight of the Earth and the colonies on my shoulders."

"And rightly so, my friend," Splinter told him. "For yours were born to carry the multiverse. Because you do not carry it alone."

Quatre wondered how much Trowa would shout at him for the single secret he had held back even from before when Trowa had helped him begin to lay his deepest fear to rest. On the other hand, though Trowa and the others might be angry, they would not be surprised he had still kept secrets. They did know him best, after all. Really, by now, they probably _expected_ Quatre to keep something of himself back even in the midst of a devastating emotional feedback loop, even while trapped in the Scepter's visions. If they didn't, they _should_.

Quatre looked forward to where his Gundams, his brothers, were waiting for him – all politely not listening but varying degrees of curious and worried and protective and content. They moved easily amidst the four turtles whose own hearts shone with triumph and relief and certainty – the certainty of family and bonds that transcend all things.

Quatre had kept his secrets to protect that family. In the end, he would do anything for that reason and he knew in his heart without any of his empathic gifts that the others would have done the same.

They would understand. How could they not?

"None of us do," Quatre said. "None of us are alone. We are together. And it's all going to be all right for both our worlds. For all of us."

"Is that your gift speaking?" Splinter asked.

"No." Quatre shook his head. "It's because I trust in us. I trust in myself. And that's enough."

And so it was.


	12. Born to Rise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who came with me on this journey. I hope it was rewarding.
> 
> And, yup. I pretty much just put the Gundams in charge of the multiverse. Not that they'll use their power for anything but good, mind. And, for the TMNT fans who found their way here, I also answered the eternal question of SAINW – where did Donatello go? Now you know.
> 
> This is dedicated to everyone who gave me so much support when I needed it while writing a year ago, and who continues to support me. Every time a review comes in, it always seems to arrive when I need it most. So thank you, all of you.
> 
> Enjoy!

Quatre turned away from the rift in space-time. It didn't matter how many years had gone by – he still found that moment was able to fill him with renewed hope and peace. He made a habit of witnessing it whenever he needed the reminder, particularly on days like this.

Behind him, Quatre became aware of another presence. He was not alarmed, however. Not only was he more well-protected than anyone could imagine, but he knew this heart well.

"I wondered if you would come," Quatre said without looking over. "You often do."

"It feels like an itch," the familiar voice said with false annoyance. "Every time you get near to that whole mess to watch it _again_ , I feel it like a little burst of static electricity. If I didn't know better, I'd think you did it on purpose."

"And you already know that answer as well, my friend," Quatre told him softly. "I think you need to be reminded from time to time that you are not alone either."

"But I am."

At the surge of sudden sorrow, Quatre finally turned. His eyes fell on the familiar shape, the white and blue robes of Null Time which could not hide the bulge of a shell. This one refused to wear the headdress that was traditional of one of his station, so his green, domed head was unobscured. It had taken Quatre a while to get used to the masklessness of the face, though.

Quatre sighed. "There is nothing I can do to make it right for you."

"No." Donatello shook his head sadly. "The Laws are immutable."

"But you'll watch them in Tournament again?"

Donatello's smile was brittle. "Don't I always?"

A trickle washed through Quatre's awareness. _The Hamato Clan has signaled that they are about to arrive_.

Quatre sent back to Wufei a quick thanks for the notice and for taking on greeting duty this time. It was only their third Tournament in this capacity, but already certain patterns had been established in how they allocated their particular skills.

Trowa was just finishing up the plans for the great feast and the performance that would come after – as the only one with any real dramatic training, he always enjoyed ensuring the after-dinner demonstration of the War Staff's power set the perfect tone for the Tournament to come. Heero was, as usual, seeing to security, including updating Gyoji on which beings should not, under any circumstances, be housed anywhere near one another. With even just a few years of practice, Heero had become as skilled with the fine blade he carried as he had one been in the cockpit of Wing Zero, and though he could break up almost any fight that erupted between the visiting warriors, he found it tedious to have to intervene in a fight he could have prevented by some basic common sense. Duo, who normally had the job of welcoming the arrivals and getting them settled, was off on a supply run. When it was necessary to not only feed hundreds of guests from dozens of worlds and dimensions but also offer wares that would interest them, Duo had proven to be the master in hopping between worlds with a few of the Nexus villagers to stock up on enough interesting items. Wufei, more often the liaison with those guests of greatest honor or status, was covering for him by greeting everyone until he returned.

Quatre left his chambers, walking back through the Hall of Champions with Donatello at his side. Quatre paused to look up at the matching statues that were erected side-by-side. Technically, Miyamoto Usagi had won a Tournament between Donatello's come-from-behind upset and Raph's win two Tournaments later, but Usagi had understood the desire for all the Hamatos to stand immortalized together in the Hall.

Donatello looked at the statues, too, smiling fondly and sadly. "It always makes me wonder if..."

"I know, my friend," Quatre said. He put a hand on Donatello's shoulder, still surprised that he had become so very tall in comparison to the turtle. Apparently, taking possession of the War Staff rendered an otherwise-average human slightly grander in size after absorbing the Staff's initial power. In Quatre's case, that had extended to the other Gundams as well through their link, leaving the Nexus with one very tall Daimyo and four very tall and very intimidating human protectors.

And as a team, a brotherhood, a single heart spread in five souls, though it had been short in counted years on the outside, it felt to the Gundams as if they had guarded the Nexus and the Tournament without fail for far longer than they had lived in their own universe.

"You don't mind, do you?" Donatello asked as he always did not only during the last Tournaments, but whenever the Hamato Clan was near. "If I hang around just to watch?"

"Of course not," Quatre assured him. "As long as it heals your heart and does not weaken it. And, of course, as long as you obey the Law." He huffed a laugh. "Lord Simultaneous would make my life very difficult for the next hundred years if I facilitated a Lawbreaking."

"Don't worry." Donatello smiled back. "With this over-sized paperweight, I'm quicker than any ninja has any right to be." He waved the Time Scepter slightly. "Nobody ever sees me but you. And your other selves."

Quatre nodded. "Then come. We should watch the arrival."

"And you should get changed," Donatello told him with a knowing wink.

Quatre grimaced. He led the way to his personal chambers, pointedly ignoring the amusement that bounced to him from Duo – with the War Staff in his hands, Quatre's empathy was no longer confined by the limits of dimensions and he could easily reach those to whom he was bound no matter where or when in the multiverse they journeyed.

Donatello caught the expression. "Duo giving you a hard time again?"

"Doesn't he always?" Quatre replied. "It's tradition to wear the Daimyo's robes for the duration of the Tournament. Even if they are heavy and uncomfortable and make it practically impossible to actually fight in any meaningful way. I'd rather go as I am."

Donatello laughed. "Because shorts and a pullover are _so_ dignified for the high and mighty Daimyo of the Nexus."

"At least I was able to compromise with Gyoji about the shoes. I've never been good at walking smoothly in geta sandals. And those robes are so long, no one can see my feet anyway!"

"You know you're the only Daimyo of any time who wears combat boots under the robes, right?"

Quatre grinned. "And who doesn't wear that mask."

"Not true." Donatello shook his head. "No Daimyo after you will ever wear it again. It seems they take your words seriously."

Quatre paused. Then he remembered what he'd said during the first Tournament he'd been named Daimyo. He spoke softly. "The Nexus and the multiverse deserves truth from me in all things. Truth in word and truth in deed. And so I give myself, my feelings and my thoughts, as freely as I am able. I cannot hide myself from those who trust in me to protect them." He sighed. "Honestly? I'd spent too much time behind the mask of Sandrock and later of being Quatre Raberba Winner, CEO, to want to be anything but myself anymore. Being Daimyo is hard enough."

Donatello's eyes twinkled with humor. "And the mask is uncomfortable, isn't it?"

"Dreadfully," Quatre told him.

"Want help?" Donatello offered.

"Thanks."

They spent the next few minutes carefully wrapping Quatre in the long, flowing robes of the Daimyo. Quatre had chosen to wear desert colors rather than the traditional reds and blacks, his robes largely white and gold with accents of orange and pink and a blue-green that matched his eyes. But they were constructed just as every set before him had been, complete with what _looked_ like armor but was mainly for show to make his shoulders seem huge. Quatre left off the heavy gauntlets and metallic gloves as well, though he would wear them for the feast and when a champion was crowned. They clinked when he moved and it drove him to distraction.

Wufei reached to Quatre's heart. _The Hamato Clan is here._

"Come." Quatre led Donatello to the window. It wasn't magical – it had been found by Duo on one of his many multiverse hopping adventures. From inside, the pane of glass was crystal clear, but on the outside it was completely impenetrable even to sight enhanced by technological means. It allowed Quatre to look over the Nexus inhabitants without the people feeling the weight of his observation. Thankfully, the people of the Nexus were beginning to accept their more affable, familiar, informal Daimyo. Slowly.

A small portal burst to life down in the courtyard. First through, as always even now, was Leonardo. The years had thinned him somewhat, but he still carried himself with the grace and strength of his youth, though he had more scars and more spots than he had then. Right on his heels was Michelangelo, as unchanging as Duo and with much less excuse as he actually lived in a dimension where time moved. Behind came Raphael, still proudly wearing his Gundanium shell, and Quatre was glad to see that the red-banded turtle's recent limp was almost gone. The Nexus healers had said it would take months to recover, but it never did seem to take as long as anyone thought when it came to Raph.

As if reading his thoughts, Donatello said, "I'm glad they come to you for healing."

Quatre nodded. "If we hadn't met at the Tournament all those years ago and created an ongoing alliance, I'm not sure any of them would have lived so long. I lost track of the number of times a portal would open – usually right in my office, too – and someone would come staggering through needing immediate medical help." He looked away. "I still wish we could have spared Master Splinter."

Donatello caught Quatre's hand and held it. "You know as well as I do that things must happen when it is time. Master Splinter was never meant to be immortal. And he accepted that with grace as he did all things."

Quatre nodded, grateful for the commotion below to distract him from a never-quite-healed sorrow that he knew was shared by so many.

Behind Raphael, April O'Neil and Casey Jones emerged, both friends who had become well known to the Gundams over the years as well as adopted members of the Hamato Clan. Between them walked their daughter Shadow, tall and strong with long blonde hair she wore in a braid inspired by Duo.

"Shadow's finally entering?" Donatello asked in surprise.

Quatre nodded. "Her parents said she couldn't enter the Tournament until she finished college _and_ passed all of Leo's tests. That was two years ago. It's been a very _long_ two years, I'm afraid."

"Good thing she's had Wufei to keep her on her toes."

Quatre laughed. "He likes nothing better than dropping in on her unexpectedly. Literally. And testing her for all she's worth. He does it to the other two kids as well." He nodded at the next group emerging from the portal.

First came Oroku Karai, her head thrown back as fiercely as ever. In spite of her age and the silver-grey of her hair, Karai never carried herself as if she were anything other than a master ninja warrior.

"She could still win, you know," Donatello told Quatre.

"I know. But she refuses to compete. She still believes it is part of her penance."

"What, and Dorothy isn't?" Donatello teased.

Quatre smiled.

Dorothy Catalonia walked serenely at Karai's side, their hands tightly entwined. Dorothy's pale hair had remained its white-blonde color, and it was as long as it had been when she and Quatre had exchanged blows first through mobile suits and then rapiers. Unlike Karai's ninja uniform and armor, Dorothy sailed along in an elegant gown. She carried a bag prominently in the hand that wasn't holding warmly to her wife's.

"Another gift?" Donatello asked.

"She keeps trying to outdo Duo's yearly surprises," Quatre said. "And she's stubborn enough to think she might beat him someday."

"What does he have for her this time?"

"A golden dragon egg. Inert, thank Allah for that."

"I don't think they have those on the colonies," Donatello smiled. "Inert or otherwise."

Behind Dorothy and Karai came two young adults dressed in a similar uniform to Shadow's. The twins Yoshi and Relena had been studying with the Hamato Clan since they were old enough to walk. And it seemed they had inherited the full quickness and strength and cunning of both their mothers. They were as comfortable traveling between dimensions as the rest of the Clan, possibly moreso.

For not only did they often visit Quatre and the Gundams in the Nexus with the others, but they had lived their whole lives shuffling between dimension Third Earth – original home of the turtles – and dimension Eighth Earth – original home of the Gundams. It was Eighth Earth that had the technology to create the twins from two mothers, and where Dorothy was "retired" from politics though she still intervened as she saw fit. The pair were more serious and less given to being open about their feelings than their Clan-sister Shadow, but they were as loyal and honorable as any of the Hamatos, born or claimed.

That was another of Quatre's favorite memories to revisit – the day Dorothy had brought Karai's message to Quatre telling him that she was ready to face the turtles and apologize for all she had done.

After sounding her out as thoroughly as possible with his empathy to ensure she was sincere, Quatre had brought the turtles to meet with her. After a lengthy discussion and a few tears and even an offer to commit seppuku if it would ease the turtles' minds, Master Splinter had taken her hand. He had lifted her from her knees and told her that if she were truly no more a daughter of the Shredder, she could become his daughter instead if it would mend the pain within her heart. And as Karai stood, shocked, Master Splinter had extended the same kindness to Dorothy herself, also bereft of family, and also just as clearly in need of one. It had taken several years for all to become comfortable with the arrangement, but Master Splinter had chosen wisely indeed. Karai and Dorothy had proven themselves dozens and dozens of times and were as much a part of the Hamato Clan as Leonardo himself.

Beside Quatre, Donatello tensed slightly.

For bringing up the rear, twenty-somethingth version of a portal stick in hand, strode Hamato Donatello.

Quatre was struck as always by the differences between them. Hamato Donatello had aged along with his brothers, had picked up similar scars from shared battles. But his face still shone with the light of his ever-racing mind and his ever-gentle heart. He poked Relena in the shoulder to get her to clear out of the way so he could greet Wufei while Relena frowned at the lengthy scroll of paperwork the once-pilot handed to her. From the distance, Quatre couldn't hear his words, but he could sense them well enough. Hamato Donatello had obviously made a new breakthrough in his latest invention and was eager for Wufei's insight. His heart was steady and comfortable and alight with the peace and security of a lifetime surrounded by family.

The Donatello beside Quatre had many things in common with Hamato Donatello, not limited to name and history to a point. But Kairos Donatello, as he called himself, carried a deep wound within that had never healed. He also bore the weight of profound responsibility and perspective. These things made his heart bend to sorrow at times, but his was also one of the strongest, most valiant souls Quatre had ever known. The natural genius that Hamato Donatello had turned towards invention Kairos Donatello had turned to his duty. And the universe was a better place for it by far.

Kairos, Quatre had always considered, was the right name for him. Kairos, not time as in a chronological procession of events, but time as in a qualitative, indeterminate time. The time that stops when the world holds its breath. The time that lasts forever in an instant. A second of opportunity that redefines everything. The moments that change the course of fate.

Kairos Donatello watched Hamato Donatello nudge Leonardo with his elbow, grinning at something his older brother had said.

"I wish you could see them," Quatre said quietly.

"Me too," Kairos Donatello answered, a tear slipping loose. "But the Law is what it is for a reason. If Time Lords were permitted to return to their own dimensions – or to see anyone who had visited there – it could cause an instability in that which keeps us bound to Null Time. If I broke the Law, I might _just_ be annihilated at the temporal instability as opposed to, I don't know, being transformed into a black hole or something and spending forever that way." He smiled bitterly. "I'd do it, you know. Even though."

"I know," Quatre told him. He squeezed his hand. "I know." Then, though he was keenly aware of the answer, he knew his friend needed to say it aloud, so he asked, "Why don't you?"

Kairos Donatello closed his eyes. "It would be a betrayal. The only way their lives and deaths mean anything is if I honor their memory with my work for all eternity."

"You didn't kill your family, Donatello," Quatre told him.

"No. Ch'rell did. And his Karai. But they came to that end because of me. Because I disappeared one day and accepted the mantle and powers of a Time Lord without knowing it meant I could never go home, never even interact with them again."

"Lady Renet's second apprentice never was very good at explaining things," Quatre said. "Though it came in handy in other ways."

The problem, Quatre had learned immediately upon taking his position in the Nexus, was that time-travel made things _complicated_. Lady Renet was a friend to the Hamato Clan, and they knew her as a perpetual teenaged apprentice to Lord Simultaneous. But Quatre had been introduced to her farther along in her own time-line as an aged woman of great power and wisdom. It was then that he had met one of her students, a gawky young thing from some dimension full of magic who had gone into an alternate past to choose his own apprentice-to-be.

"I'm _still_ glad you're on our side," Kairos Donatello told him with wry humor. "I don't know that there's another being in the multiverse who could twist the Law around enough to let me be here with you when, technically, I'm not allowed to come into contact with anyone from my home dimension _or_ anyone who's been there. And thanks to Ultimate Drako, that includes you."

"But, you see, I'm the Daimyo," Quatre needlessly reminded him. "I am, in a sense, everywhere. You can't avoid me. And the others are bound to me in ways even Lord Simultaneous doesn't entirely understand. Obviously we haven't annihilated you, so clearly the Law doesn't apply to the Daimyo and his other selves."

"I'm glad," Kairos Donatello whispered. "I'm _so_ glad, Quatre. If I didn't have you, someone to understand, _really_ understand. If I couldn't see them sometimes, even if they aren't mine..."

"I know," Quatre whispered back. Through their joined hands, Quatre sent the warmth of his sympathy and friendship.

"Even if I can't talk to them...I wish I could tell him. The other me. How grateful I am." Kairos Donatello let a few more tears go. "In the end, he was with them. He gave them one more hope. He helped them defeat Ch'rell and save that entire dimension from a horrible war. He brought them together again, even for one last night. Made them a family. Even if they never lived to see peace, they...they died with honor as Clan."

Quatre spoke softly. "But then he'd have to know the rest of it. He'd have to know he shares that potential, that he is, in some ways, a Time Lord himself just as you are. And you don't want that."

"No." He shook his head. " _Never_. Not for him."

"You've never told me how you broke those rules, either," Quatre pointed out. "I merely bent the role of the Daimyo a little. But you directly interfered that day with Ultimate Drako."

"Maybe it wasn't me," Kairos Donatello said all too easily. "Maybe those words from your past just came to him through his own innate gift."

"Maybe," Quatre conceded. "But if not for you, the Time Scepter would have claimed him when he called upon it to close the rift. He would have been swept away by it as you were. You intervened to ensure he chose to drop it."

Kairos Donatello shrugged. "It was worth the risk, and that was not the first time I'd kept it out of his hands for more than a few seconds. I won't court Lawbreaking, but I thought my own poor brothers and father would have understood. If I give up their honor that I carry, it can only be to spare their counterparts from the pain that tore them apart. I could not wish for two Splinters, two Leos, two Raphs, two Mikeys to suffer that loss, not when I could prevent it. Especially for the one who comforted my family in the end."

"You are both needed in very different ways, and thankfully the multiverse is vast enough for you to share it without following the same path." Quatre pushed a little more warmth into his friend. "We do not need two Donatellos as Time Lords when you do the work of any three."

That brought a laugh from Kairos Donatello. "You only say that because Renet doesn't do _anything_."

"You work harder than I do," Quatre protested.

Kairos Donatello snorted. "I seriously doubt that."

"As you should," came another voice.

Kairos Donatello turned but Quatre did not, not needing to look to know Trowa had entered the room.

"We all do our part to keep the multiverse stable and balanced," Quatre said.

"And some do more than others. And you do more than them all," Trowa told him fondly.

Quatre smiled. "Lucky for me, I can be in five places at once."

"The Nexus will never be the same," Kairos Donatello told him with a sincere smile. "I only wish you could see it." But that would run close to a different kind of Lawbreaking, and Quatre had never wanted to know too much about his own fate. Such knowledge was safer away from him and his own fears.

"Anyway, they'll be asking for you soon," Trowa stated, knowing Quatre was already very aware of that. But also knowing Quatre would not leave Kairos Donatello to his sorrow alone. "I'm glad you're already dressed. Did I miss the argument about the shoes?"

"No, I think Gyoji's given up," Quatre told him. "It's about time, too."

"Oh, good. Otherwise Wufei was going to find out if that powder from dimension Sixth Pern works on him."

Quatre looked at Kairos Donatello with a raised eyebrow. " _This_ is what happens with decades of exposure to Duo. Even Wufei isn't salvageable." As he said it, he happily shared the conversation with all the others – Quatre wasn't any more immune to Duo than Wufei was.

Wufei's predictable blast of denial and offense and bluster (and a tiny measure of agreeing amusement) made the others laugh. Which, unfortunately, meant Heero smirked in the face of one of those prickly ice alien beings who took his amusement as an insult and now Heero was in an unplanned duel and Gyoji would _not_ be pleased.

Kairos Donatello sighed. "Go on, then. Go visit with them. Please."

"Will you be all right?" Quatre had to ask.

"You know I will be," he answered.

Still, Quatre gently inserted as much light as he could into his friend's poor heart before he left. Quatre couldn't _make_ him feel happy, not without breaking his own oaths about his incredible gift. But he could remind Kairos Donatello of all the good it had wrought for countless trillions of beings across a thousand dimensions. It wasn't enough, not nearly enough. But it was all he had to offer.

_It's all right, love._ Trowa took Quatre's hand and let their connection flow through him. _You give as much as you have. If he were not strong enough to bear it, he would have faded long ago. His heart is as vast as his counterpart's. As vast as yours._

_You're so biased._

_Yes I am._

_I'm so, so glad you are all with me. Here. In the Nexus._

_Did you really think we'd be anywhere else?_

They emerged onto the great balcony that overlooked the Nexus arena and the village. Quatre glanced around it with pride and joy mixed under the mantle of his own heavy duty. Heero joined them looking slightly scruffy and with one sleeve that had obviously been recently frozen, but his heart was steady and content. Wufei was approaching from below, leading their friends to them, keeping half his attention on the minds and hearts that flowed to him effortlessly. And Duo chose that moment to pop back in, flicking his portal stick away with a flourish.

They were together.

"One of the things the War Staff showed me when I accepted its choice was that in a thousand other universes, a thousand other timelines, it didn't play out this way," Quatre said. "In most of them, one or all of us is dead. Usually at least you." He pinned Heero with a stern glare. Heero actually smiled back.

"But we're here." Duo shrugged with simple truth.

"We will always be here," Trowa said.

_Even if I'm still escorting this raucous group to join you. Can't you even wait to have your meaningful conversations until I'm actually present?_ Wufei griped from around the building.

Quatre answered him, answered them all, through the truth of his gift and the love in his heart.

_Here and now, this is real. We are real. Our feelings made this reality. Our dreams built this possibility. And together we will gently guide it forward, not one dimension or one planet, but all of them. Because there is one power strong enough to bend the very cosmos. And it is here among us. It is here in our hearts, and it will always be enough to lead the way forward._

And marching up the steps to rejoin the Gundams for another Tournament, another adventure, Hamato Donatello was thinking the exact same thing.


End file.
